Sarah Palin for VP?

A friend asked about my thoughts of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate. My response is below. (No one has asked me about Joe Biden being Obama's pick, so I have not written any up yet.)

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What I know of Palin (and personal commentaries):
- She's a fiscal conservative. One of the biggest accomplishments she's had in office is to cut government spending. I share this view, because I think it's unsustainable for the government to continue raising taxes while increasing spending. Too many people have financial difficulties in their personal lives because they lack fiscal constraint to spend within their means. The government should be no different. She also sold the commercial jet that the previous governor used for travel on eBay when she took office, and drives an old Jetta to work everyday. That contrasts with other elected politicians who drive expensive cars on government expense.
- That she used eBay to sell the jet tells me that she is not behind the times, and will certainly be innovative in getting things done.
- She has integrity. She filed a corruption complaint against the establishment, even though it ostracized her from the Republic Party in her state. That shows courage and the integrity to do what is right, and ultimately she was vindicated, when the people chose her over the establishment.
- She is against abortion. Her fifth child was diagnosed with Down's syndrome, and she refused to get an abortion. That's a personal choice which I can respect. What is unclear to me is whether she believes that the government should enact and enforce pro-life laws (or overturn existing pro-choice ones).
- She is LGBT friendly. While she is against such lifestyles, and despite being in one of two states that forbid such lifestyles in its constitution, she signed into law in effect giving equal rights to civil unions and domestic partnerships.

Overall:
McCain's pick of Palin is a better choice than Obama's pick of Biden. (I won't get into why I think Biden was a bad pick in this email.) Too many people (and I think it's mostly Democrats) are too worried about how inexperienced she is to be "a heartbeat away from the presidency". While she is inexperience, she is no less so than Obama, as she already as executive level experience, whereas Obama has none in that respect, and he'd actually *be* the president. As VP, her role would be to learn the ropes, so that 4 or 8 years later, she can take lead of the party. What I see here is that McCain is looking beyond just this election. He realizes that even if he does not win, he now is in the position to change the course of the Republican Party. And if he does win, then she will definitely be the standard bearer come the next time around. I'm glad he did not choose Romney, who just seems too ambitious. She is a better pick than Pawlenty, as that would have been a purely political decision to win his state. Being from Alaska and being that Alaska always votes Republican, and that it only has 3 electoral votes, winning the state could not have been the motivation.

Apathy to the plight of airlines

Corporations in the transportation industry, more specifically passenger transportation, has never been capitalistic ventures. They have existed much too long on government subsidies. As a result they are inefficient and ineffective.

It seems to many that the price of gasoline will continue to skyrocket. An effect of this increase of gasoline prices is that it cuts deeply into the bottom line of airlines, to the point where many are cutting back flights, declaring fees for checked baggage, no longer serving snacks, and charging exorbiantly for drinks in flight. And yet they continue to bleed red ink.

My stance towards the plight of the airlines is complete apathy. I recently took a flight with a layover in London Heathrow. The only reason I was even there was because my original flight was cancelled, so the airline had booked me to go through Heathrow. Knowing that it can be impossible to get through that airport, I agreed to a 5 hour layover. Upon getting there however, I got through security rather quickly, and was even in time for an earlier flight. So I went to the counter and asked if I could catch the earlier flight. The person at the desk, while helpful, could do nothing except tell me that I would have to pay a $200 change fee. I declined and decided to wait until the flight was about to close. 20 minutes prior to its departure, I asked again. Once again, I was told that I would have to pay $200. The person at the counter (a different person than the original) stated that the airline would rather fly with an empty seat, than to not charge me $200, switch me to an earlier flight, and have an empty seat available for sale for 4 more hours. If the airlines have such an attitiude about their business, then why should I sympathesize?

The failings of democracy

The 2008 Taiwan elections just ended, and the President-elect Ma (馬英九) is from the Nationalist Party (中國國民黨). The Nationalist Party is the party that oppressed the Taiwanese natives, imposing among other things, martial law, upon arrival in Taiwan while fleeing Mao's Red Army. The losing party, the Democratic Progressive Party (民主進步黨) was eventually formed by the Taiwanese people in opposition.

One of the most interesting unmentioned tidbits regarding the demographics of this year's election is that this is the first time an entire generation of voters who have grown up without (or not remembering) the era of Nationalist imposed martial law. This particular demographic voted overwhelmingly for the winner, mainly as a reaction against perceived failings of the current president, who is of the DPP.

How has the failings of democracy been demonstrated in this election? Ultimately it comes down to the constrast between democracies requiring the populace to make rather important and long term choices, and that the decision process the populace employs to make these choices often reflect short-term desires. This seems to be currently happening in the presidential race in the United States as well. Time will tell.

Another example of an overinflated government

The Senate is now examining the tuition, endowment, and scholarship policies of private universities. [New York Times] How does the legislative arm of the government have any power over fiscal policies of private institutions?

One can only imagine how much better we would be if they had instead spent this energy legislating against fraudulent practices in the mortgage industry (by both lenders and borrowers).

A bloated government

Congress is calling Roger Clemens and various other baseball figures to testify about the use of steroids in the game. [New York Times]

It amazes me that Congress continues to indulge itself in issues irrelevant to government, e.g. baseball, while not focusing on the real issues at hand.