Sarah Palin's Sympathy for Alaskan Independence is Treasonous

doc durango is right: Sarah Palin's sympathy for the Alaska Independence Party is treasonous:

The AIP's fondest wish has always been secession (independence), but they have in recent years moderated their positions somewhat.  They want Alaskans to vote on whether to leave the Union outright, to become a "commonwealth" (like Puerto Rico), or to resume territorial status.  I don't think either of the latter options are legal or constitutional.  But even if they are, the inclusion of secession--independence--in the provision that they seek to put before the Alaska voters is, well, it is TREASON.

Perhaps it is not actionable treason.  Actionable treason would only come IF the state actually tried to declare independence, which it will never do.  But the point is, NO STATE CAN VOTE ON WHETHER TO LEAVE THE UNION.  NO STATE HAS THAT RIGHT.

So when Sarah Palin calls the AIP "inspirational" and tells its members "God bless you and keep up the good work," she is flirting with treason.  Does she know that?  I doubt it.  She's not educated enough to be aware of the issue.  And I'm afraid that neither are most Americans.  I'm afraid that few of us really know our country's history and Constitution.

My point is this:  unless Palin absolutely, unconditionally says that a state has no right to secede, even if a majority of its citizens want secession, she CANNOT in good conscience take the oath of office.  The oath requires her to swear on a BIBLE, no less, to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.  Secessionists are in essense domestic enemies, and I strongly suspect (am 99% sure) that some of them have ties to militias that, at one time if not now, wanted to bring down the U.S. governemtn.  I'm not saying that Palin has such ties, but certainly others in the AIP do.

Remember, the founder of the AIP, Joe Voglin, said he had "no use for America or her damned institutions," and vowed not to be buried on U.S. soil.  He was murdered while purchasing plastic explosives.  Sorta like a drug deal gone bad, but in this case a plastic explosives deal gone bad.  He was a miner, so perhaps he wanted to use the explosives for mining, but what are the odds that he had in mind some other use for those explosives?  I don't know, but I hope our press can find out.

Nor can Sarah Palin say the Pledge of Allegiance in good conscience.  If she even believes that Alaska HAS THE RIGHT to declare independence, even if she herself doesn't want Alaska to do that, she cannot take the Pledge.  The Pledge commits us to "ONE nation, under God, INDIVISIBLE."  Those words were added precisely to head off any thought of secession.

Sarah Palin has supported the idea of letting Alaskans vote on whether to declare independence.  That alone makes her a liar when she says the pledge.  She CANNOT say the words "ONE nation" and "INDIVISIBLE" without lying.  THERE IS NO RIGHT TO SECESSION.  THE UNITED STATES IS INDIVISIBLE.  IT IS ONE NATION.  Okay, I grant you, she simply hasn't thought about the meaning of those words.  Most of us haven't.  That's what a pledge becomes ... just words, meaningless words, that we ritually incant.  But if she did think about the meaning, she'd realize that she is lying UNLESS she utterly and wholely repudiates the idea that a state has the right to leave the union.

Update 1: Did you know Palin's acceptance speech featured a quote from a long-forgotten writer - Westbrook Pegler- who was a fascist, racist, anti-semitic hate-monger?

So… exactly how right-wing was Pegler?  As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. points out today on the Huffington Post, so right-wing as to have publicly called for his father’s assassination.

Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that “some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies.”

When a vice presidential candidate can admiringly quote a fascist, racist, anti-semitic hate-monger like Pegler—in her acceptance speech no less—and America barely bats an eye, it tells you a lot about where our nation is potentially going.

Update 2: Palin's family gave the NY Times a photo of her reading (and making notes on) the official magazine of the far-right John Birch Society while she was on the Wasilla City Council in 1995. Palin's spinners say she was one of thousands of public officials to receive copies of the magazine from rightwing citizens, but why did she choose that page to pose with when there were many other documents sent by citizens?