Sarah Palin is back in the public spot light with her new bestselling book, Going Rogue. At the moment, on just about every television channel, one can view the very photogenic Palin being quizzed about her new book and her plans for the future. Of course, the big question that comes up at some point in every conversation is – will she run for the top spot in the next presidential election? While trying to pick the person that will be the Republican Presidential Candidate in 2012 is a pre-mature question, who among us, both liberal and conservative, can’t say it is not a tantalizing topic to discuss? For conservatives, it is one of the most important chances to correct this Titanic-style course of destruction that Barack Obama has chartered for the country. For liberals, it’s a chance to hate a new conservative presidential candidate with all the energy they can muster. Good times.

As is often the case, I would direct attention away from the tantalizing and back to the practical, which (in this case) still brings us to the case of Sarah Palin. I believe that Palin’s re-emergence has a fundamental importance that should be grasped. However, the big difference here, and probably one of the biggest of big differences from the current public focus, is that I believe it has little to do with Palin as President. Let me explain.

As Sarah Palin emerges again as a potential political player, we will see an inevitable, grotesque, re-enactment of the Palin attacks, the likes of which had never before been heaped upon man, woman, or beast in the political realm. One should remember the eerie depths liberals plunged to when degrading Palin as a political candidate, by attacking not just her political views, but by attacking her as a wife and mother. We should not forget that, despite all the liberal rhetoric being brought forth promoting the rightness of empowering diversity, the left—and all its agents—attacked Sarah Palin with reckless ferocity for attempting to find a place among the highest echelons of power as an intelligent, strong woman. The fact that Palin is physically beautiful appears to be only additional salt in the wounds of liberals that feel she has transgressed against them. For this sin, liberal cheap-shooters, such as Newsweek, will continue to frame Palin’s physical beauty as a detriment to her internal qualities. It’s as unprofessional and demeaning as Barack Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” statement from the 2008 Presidential Election primary. Despite the wrongness of these actions, the public should be prepared for more – and for it to hit lower guttural depths. As well, the microscope will be placed on every potential political plan, policy, and procedure that will cross Palin’s lips in the next few months and after intense scrutiny, inevitably, she will be found lacking in some category. Ah, to be human.

After sifting through all the glitter and gloom of the Palin story, the practical matter of importance still boils down to action based on values. It is here, in that private place of contemplation, that we have to ask ourselves the value, if any, of making rogue vogue? This is where you might want to lean forward and apply additional focus to the article. The questions of fundamental importance are whether or not the Palin philosophy of following conservative values outweighs political prestige and party? If doing what you feel is right is worth losing title and station, if placing God and family before the well-embraced public sentiment of moral relativism and political expediency, is it worth the pain? Is it not good enough to simply do what is right, despite tomorrows poll rating? Is it worth it to go rogue? I must admit, I was among the many that questioned Palin’s decision to step down from the position as Governor of Alaska. The thought of “finish what you start,” was heavy in my mind, in combination with the fact that I knew liberals, the same liberals who were heaping fraudulent law suits on her and the state of Alaska, would later attack her for stepping down. My second point is now coming to fruition; however, I may have been wrong to believe that Sarah Palin failed to finish what she had started. In fact, she may be in roguish fashion illuminating the fact that conservative values have validity alone, and only find certain limited facilitation through the political process. The echo of Palin’s gubernatorial step-down surely also reflects the Republican Party’s ultimate need for conservatives and not vice versa. If any of these ideals are true, and I believe they are, then it is worth saying that gold, glory, governorships and dare I say, even presidencies, should be the fruits of this scarce righteous mentality. These ideals have become almost foreign today, and most certainly could be termed rogue.

Will Sarah Palin run for President? Can she win? Only time will tell. What we can say, in the here-and-now, is that despite who faces the Barack Obama presidential machine in 2012, this person would be wise to place conservative values as their mainstay. This candidate would be best served to look above for guidance—as opposed to opinion polls and the press—and allow followers to be drawn to his/her true character, and not to peripheral qualities that have no true relevance. Is this mentality rogue? If it is, then let us make rogue vogue by every means possible, with the greatest of speed, and with the highest amounts of fervor for the betterment of the country – while we still can.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his PhD. in sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of the books Living Under The Patriot Act: Educating A Society and Feeding Lions: Sharing The Conservative Philosophy In A Politically Hostile World. Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008 and 2009 Entertainment Program of the Year, Conscience of Kansas airing on KSDB Manhattan 91.9 FM. For interviews or questions, please contact Ibbetson91.9@gmail.com or go to www.IbbetsonUSA.com.

As has been the case for many years, and especially most recently, the charge is that conservatives are falsely railing against a straw man in their observations and accusations leveled against the activities of liberals, and the Obama administration. Before I address this situation directly, let’s take a moment to look at what is meant by the term “straw man.”

The concept of the “straw man” is the observation of the deceptive capability of humankind. When an individual wants to divert attention from a true issue, a false or irrelevant topic is created and attacked, and by doing so, advantage (if not victory) is achieved through such an argument. This is a mixture of misdirection and deception, and in layman’s terms, a battle waged against things that just aren’t there. Defending against the straw man charge is problematic. For conservatives that have the fortitude to stand up to the Obama administration’s attacks on this country, it is not just the repercussions brought forth by angry liberals that are a problem. Going beyond those attacks is the challenge for conservatives to constantly disprove the straw man; that is, that the threats facing this nation being brought forth by the most aggressive socialistic pushers of modern day are more than the fictitious creations of a minority party wishing to grab back the reins of political power.

When it comes to battling the accusations from the left that conservatives are simply attacking a straw man, the strategy liberals have in play is for those who wish to stand up for this country to spend endless time trying to prove the obvious – that this administration is about to destroy the country. This is the epitome of hypocrisy, even from the left which has hit some really highs lately, hitting below the belt pertaining to the best interest of this country. This does not mean that illusionary constructions are not taking place to deceive the public. What it does mean is that the biggest scams on reality today are not coming from the demonized gun toting, Bible-clinging conservatives. Here are the real culprits and the straw man illusionary constructions they are spinning, and why they must be stopped sooner – not later.

The biggest false reality and misdirection that is being framed across the United States is that we, the American people, are living in a state of normalcy and the greatest nation on Earth is being guided by a President, with a supporting cast of politicians, who aspire to promote the continual prosperity of a capitalistic Christian nation. The most deadly of illusions being forwarded daily to the public, and with extreme efficiency, I believe, is the notion that this nation can survive any and all actions of abuse heaped upon it. It’s time to remove the veil of deceit before the face of this country and let all the straw men burn until nothing but the truth stands before us. The truth, unfortunately, is that we are all in big trouble. As the nation goes, we go.

In a country where the waters of the “well of the benefit of the doubt” run deep, President Barack Obama has drawn every drop in his short tenure as commander and chief of the United States. From his lips alone, he has rejected America as a Christian nation and washed his hands of the Biblical (if not humanity’s) responsibility for the unborn. This same president has indebted the nation to our economic opponents to amounts the human mind can no longer fathom, and the numbers keep increasing by the second. Through his minions found in the radical, left-leaning Democrat Party, this president is attempting to socialize the very existence of every man, woman, and child within our borders and bring them to their knees as modern-day slaves.

The question of the acceptance of a fabricated illusion of normality versus the cold reality of impending doom and chaos is nothing new as it has been the unfortunate choice for people throughout history, such as the Romans in the time of Caligula, the Soviets in the time Stalin, the Germans in the time of Hitler, the Iraqis in the time of Hussein, and now the Americans in the time of Obama. The tyrants, methods of destruction, and illusions spun to quell revolt may change but the inevitable outcomes remain the same. Slavery, pain, suffering, economic and physical death have consistently been the end product.

The American people stand in a historical place where others have been before. A place where once a myriad of choices stood, having been squandered, now only the most basic remain. As those before us have had to decide, we can choose to languish in an illusion that all is well, that all will be well, until the bloody end, or we can collectively take up the mantle of responsibility and meet the forces of destruction and unseat them from power and stop the deadly tide that will inevitably destroy us. Let all the straw men burn with their adjoining deceptions despite who may be their creators as this country can no longer afford illusionary constructions when our current situation is so near, real, and dangerous.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his PhD. in sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of the books Living Under The Patriot Act: Educating A Society and Feeding Lions: Sharing The Conservative Philosophy In A Politically Hostile World. Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008 and 2009 Entertainment Program of the Year, Conscience of Kansas airing on KSDB Manhattan 91.9 f.m. www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact ibbetson91.9@gmail.com

As conservatives and the Republican Party, the party most able to bring back the misplaced spirit of this country, fight to find both their bearings and their grit, they are also faced with the not so wanted task of culling out those that will inevitably hurt the movement. The sometimes bandied about notion that movements should take all comers to expand their ranks is fool hearty, at best, and probably the most often whispered advice from the enemy, at worst. For liberals and the Democrat Party, which have toiled over the last few decades to become one and the same, the painful truth is that America is a center-right nation. That’s right, conservatives have the actual physical numbers to win elections, pass meaningful laws, set their agenda, and even course correct the dire straits this country finds itself in today. So, if today’s liberal cannot numerically defeat mainstream America at the polls, who can? The painful truth is that the biggest culprit, the most accurate monkey wrench thrower attributing to conservative political defeats, has been, and will always be, the missteps of conservatives themselves as they attempt to retrieve what is rightfully theirs: victory.

There are a handful of political poisons that conservatives fall victim to swallowing that inevitably lead to “death” at the polls. I could talk about the lack of political fortitude (call it like it is), or even the inability, to articulate a clear and concise message to the people in a world where cryptic political double-speak is considered graceful, but for today, the focus is placed on the importance of who should be, and who should not be, allowed to walk under the banner of the Conservative Movement. Liberals always hate the analogy, “birds of a feather flock together,” because if you walk through their “coop” you will always find some very dirty birds. However, for liberals, the saying becomes so much more valid when the associations are linked to conservatives – and the “filthy flockers” that sneak in to snuggle under their banners.

The worst of these groups, when it comes to poisonous association residue, are the publicly identified “Conspiracy Theorists.” Surely, you’ve heard of some of them, like the Loose-Changers, and the 9-11 Truthers, among others. These small but vocal gangs of self-pronounced sleuths eagerly hunt and report by way of covert cyber space chat rooms, and doomsday-style websites, the secret, evil, underhanded workings of the government, private businesses, the rich, the poor, foreign operators, hell, everybody. While these groups, like the farthest of the left liberals should be given their free speech chance to tell the world the benefits of tinfoil for blocking government created mind control radio waves, they are the rotten apple in the conservative barrel.
Here is why. The most obvious is the group association that those who wish to hurt a conservative movement can make at every turn. For example, when a handful of uninvited 9-11 Truthers show up at a TEA Party, the liberal media places the conspiracy nuts at the top of their reports and frames the entire event from that vantage point. Is that fair? Absolutely not, but it happens all too often. Conspiracy theorists, in effect, become the “low hanging fruit” when it comes to diminishing the credibility of Americans who wish to restore this country back to its original foundations. Think about it. For the liberal media – in the tank for Barack Obama, why should they spend their time cutting out footage of African Americans rejecting the current “hope and change” fallacy of the administration, or any of the other myriad of examples of the legitimacy of the TEA Party grassroots movements, when they can tape 5 minutes of conspiracy nuts explaining how former President George Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney set satchel charges in the World Trade Center.

Part of the expansion of the conspiracy theory industry has come from the “crazy for profit” vendors, such as Alex Jones. Jones, who has created the website infowars.com, which is part X-Files, part National Treasure, and part pure crapola, has found a way to turn a dollar – breeding anti-everything distrust. The dark side of the Ron Paul philosophy often finds a home among the clickables on Alex Jones’ website. What you will find when you cruise the Alex Jones website, as well as the other conspiracy sites that espouse the “everybody is out to get us” mentality, is anger, distrust, paranoia, and all the building blocks of self generated doom and gloom.

What you will not find is the conservative message of hope for the country or the positive idealism of Lincoln, Eisenhower, and that of the beloved Ronald Reagan. I believe these individuals would, as should conservatives today, shun the modern day conspiracy theorist with their repetitious unanswerable assembly line of secret plots and dirty deeds. It is naive to believe that the anger and distrust heaped by the conspiracy crowd on then, President George W. Bush, now placed upon Barack Obama, will not also run rampant upon the next president, even if he or she is the embodiment of the conservative ideal that the mainstream majority of America is naturally drawn too. If we are honest with one another, we already know that the modern conspiracy theorist, that is currently “jonesing for the Alex Jones” experience, will immediately see evil ‘men in black’ working within the shadows of a leader completely the opposite of Barack Obama. In short, conspiracy theorists will always be at odds with all echelons of power and authority by the nature of their existence, which is all the evidence they need that bad things are afoot.

It is because of the necessity for the country to find a President of a different ideology than Barack Obama that conservatives, and the Republican Party which most closely represents them, must cull out and toss the conspiracy theorists from their ranks – both publicly and privately. Conservatives must come to an understanding that, over time, this action will increase, not decrease, their political power. In simple terms, tossing a few rotten apples from the apple barrel is not only wise, but also saves cleaning up an inevitable big stinky mess down the road.

Paul A. Ibbetson is a former Chief of Police of Cherryvale, Kansas, and member of the Montgomery County Drug Task Force. Paul received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Criminal Justice at Wichita State University, and is currently completing his PhD. in sociology at Kansas State University. Paul is the author of the books Living Under The Patriot Act: Educating A Society and Feeding Lions: Sharing The Conservative Philosophy In A Politically Hostile World. Paul is also the radio host of the Kansas Broadcasting Association’s 2008 and 2009 Entertainment Program of the Year, Conscience of Kansas airing on KSDB Manhattan 91.9 f.m. www.ibbetsonusa.com. For interviews or questions, please contact ibbetson91.9@gmail.com