Republican Governance

Change agent? Hardly. Sarah Palin subscribes to the same Republican theory of governance as Bush: obsessed with secrecy, valuing loyalty above competence. It is crony capitalism applied to the public sector.

From the New York Times today:

Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

Ms. Havemeister was one of at least five schoolmates Ms. Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding their private sector wages.

Familiar? Look for another four years of government as a means to private enrichment for the crony elite if MCain/Palin wins.

The lies, the mawkish patriotism — all just a facade for their real interest: power for its own sake. Their cynicism would make the old boys of the politburo blush.