Echoes in Eternity

Doug Wilson has an excellent piece on Sarah Palin's recent resignation.

I have been quiet about Sarah Palin for a bit, not needing my comments count to soar into the stratosphere again, but I do want to give her a little bit of free advice. If you see her, pass this on, wouldja?
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[B]e aware that many conservatives are sympathetic to you because of your ability to set off this aforementioned derangement on the left, which is admittedly a shorter trip every day. At the same time, George W. had this same ability, and yet he was no conservative. He was a "big government conservative," which when translated means a big government liberal with some common sense left. Now that Obama is spending us into a little Bernie-Madoff-style prosperity, it appears that Bush had a goodish bit of restraint left, at least comparatively. But we don't need any more slow death conservatism, and we need to stop measuring how far right we are while tethered to the left's drunken lurches toward the far left. They are not a reliable indicator. I say this because a number of conservatives around the country are hungry for a genuinely different direction, and they know by now that the reactions of the Pie Topping Left are not a reliable guide to what that direction is.

And, by the way, if you go in a genuinely new direction, you will have two mortal enemies, the Democrats and the Republicans respectively. The Democrats will be the nastier of the two, but the Republicans will be meaner in a sly way, and far more effective.
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The more conservative of them will shake their heads sadly. She could have been another Reagan, but wasn't up to it. Never mind that Reagan redivivus would have almost all of them spitting nails. They only like Reagan because he's dead now, and they will like you fine when you're dead. Ignore them. Ignore them blithely. Ignore them like you have never heard of the books they are recommending. With regard to their urgent pleas, you should have the placid countenence of a Buddhist monk reading a Far Side cartoon. Their sophisticated construct that they call a world doesn't really exist. You can learn more about the way the world actually works -- as I believe you already have -- by talking to the guy who sells elephant ears at the Nebraska State Fair.

In the meantime, study what you want. Read the kind of books that they would declare an even greater manifestation of what your problem must be. They want you to travel, so you should go places they don't want you to go. As providence would have it, you are this generation's catnip for the power elites. It is a beautiful gift. Don't waste it.

Personally, I'm with Mark Steyn. I think Palin is genuinely out of politics for the foreseeable future (at least, I believe she intends that to be the case). That news conference was too hastily-arranged and unorganized to be a sly political move. Palin is sick of spending her time (and her limited personal finances) on one stupid complaint after another. She wants to serve the people, not play politics.