I’ve lost count. From Alaska:
“This Statue of Liberty was gifted to us by foreign leaders, really as a warning to us, it was a warning to us to stay unique and to stay exceptional from other countries. Certainly not to go down the path of other countries that adopted socialist policies,” [Sarah] Palin said to cheers from the crowd.
You can’t make this **** up. Really.
Just as I did with Glenn Beck and the Washington Monument, I turned to the National Park Service for historical background (emphasis added).
The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the people of the United States and is a universal symbol of freedom and democracy. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886, designated as a National Monument in 1924 and restored for her centennial on July 4, 1986.
[…]
The people of France gave the Statue to the people of the United States over one hundred years ago in recognition of a friendship established during the American Revolution. Over the years, the meanings of the Statue have grown until she has become an international icon of freedom and liberty, the most recognizable symbol of democracy in the world.
Palin, however, told the crowd that she learned this factoid from none other than Glenn Beck, who seems to favor making things up to looking them up. Ironically, that’s the charge Palin makes towards non-FOX-media:
“The mainstream media has obviously a biased agenda against common-sense conservatives. That’s no secret,” Palin replied. “And we just happen to represent a lot of common-sense conservatives. And they just don’t like it. So they make things up.”
Does Palin realize that the Alaskan government’s management of oil and redistribution of profits (the Alaska Permanent Fund), is the epitome of socialism* — government ownership of resources, money doled out to citizens? After all, the state constitution claims “common heritage rights of ownership of oil and other minerals for the people of the state as a whole.” Academics study it as an “experiment in wealth distribution” (pdf).
I’m not sure what’s worse — this or the fact that people lined up and paid up to $225 for tickets to hear this terrible twosome, to rejoice about about “simple basic moral values that are starting to spread.”
* Socialism is an economic and political theory advocating public or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources. Wikipedia
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com