Sample research paper on Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin was born in Sandpoint Idaho on February 11, 1964. Her parents moved to Alaska when she was only three years of age. Charles, Sarah’s father, was a track coach and a science teacher. Her mother was a school secretary. Sarah Palin spent her childhood in small town of Wasilla. She played in the girls’ basketball team of Wasilla High School. She graduated from this school in the year 1982. Sarah Palin was the runner-up in the contest for Miss Alaska. Later, she earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho in Journalism, in the year 1987. (James 221)

Sarah Palin is an outdoors enthusiast, an enthusiastic hunter, rides snowmobiles and eats hamburger. She married Todd Palin, her school mate, on August, 29, 1988. Sarah Palin then supported the commercial fishing business of the family. Todd and Palin have five children. Todd worked at a Prudhoe Bay process facility from where he took a leave when his wife was sworn in as governor to avoid any possible conflict of interest. (http://gov.state.ak.us/bio.html)

Political Careerand Thoughts

Sarah Palin’s political career commenced in the year 1992. Initially she won a seat in the local City Council. Four years later, she was elected as a mayor of Wasilla by defeating a three-term incumbent. Palin, in the capacity of mayor, reduced spending and cut property taxes. In her tenor, the city sales tax increased by half a percent to construct a sports complex and investing extra money in public safety. In a bid to be nominated as a Republican lieutenant governor, she ran her first campaign in the year 2002, ultimately losing by less than two thousand votes.

Sarah Palin made a breakthrough in 2006 when she became the youngest and first ever female governor of Alaska. She defeated Frank Murkowski, the incumbent governor. The areas of her main focus are public health and safety, workforce development, infrastructure development and transportation and education. She also emphasizes openness and ethics in the government. She has a firm belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman. She is an advocate for capital punishment and in favor of rights to bear arms. Her robust stance on significant family values as well as her own family is expected to sway most of the conservative voters.

On the energy front, Sarah Palin has extensively pursed a pipeline for the purpose of supplying natural gas from North Slop of Alaska to different markets. The state legislature, in summer 2008, approved her plan to provide five hundred million dollars subsidy to a Canadian company, TransCanada to support in building the project. Sarah Palin also passed a significant tax increase on the production of state oil, promising to refund some money to Alaskans through a check for an amount of $1,200. (Biographiq 43)

Sarah Palin is a conservative Protestant. Voters specifically on the right are expected to admire the conservative credentials of Sarah Palin. She strongly opposes both gay marriage and abortion rights. She supports the increased drilling for oil domestically. She is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. Her son joined U.S army on September 11, last year, currently serves in an infantry brigade. She is a social conservative and proponent of open arms for the young students. She praises the Republican Party’s stance of respect for life and equality. Sarah Palin firmly believes in individual freedom and asserts it as one of the major reason to become a Republican.

Performance as a Governor of Alaska

Sarah Palin has fought with success to reduce and decrease the wasteful spending by government. She defended freedom and liberty by promoting and enforcing a firm interpretation of the constitution. She has supported American soldiers at war. She has fought successfully to reform education in the state of Alaska. Moreover, she has fought to reduce the overall dependence of United States on foreign oil, encouraging the development of clean and safe energy sources in the state of Alaska. (Barnes 13)

As governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin supported a bill that requires consent by parents for abortion on minors as well as banning partial birth abortion. She is against abortion in all classes including incest and rape except when the mother’s life is in danger. She has promoted the energy resources in Alaska, supporting the exploration of natural gas and oil with the idea that the nation should depend on its own energy resources.

Sarah Palin has also been successful in bringing Democrats and Republicans together under her administration. She has a well-praised record of reforms specifically needed in Washington and also delivering on the change. As a governor, Sarah Palin challenged the heavy influence of large oil companies while fighting specifically for the development of some new energy resources.

Governor Palin, in fact, leads a state that possesses significant resources of energy and has been at the front line to make United States, energy independent. In Alaska, she confronted with a corrupt system and subsequently passed an ethics reform bill. Sarah Palin used her veto and cut spending on budget. As a governor she deeply understands the grave challenges faced by the nation and acknowledges the significance of supporting troops.

Stance of Sarah Palin on Different Matters

The stance of Sarah Palin on different issues is decent and respectable, making her a popular, appropriate and qualified candidate for Vice President. It is pertinent to present some of her popular and admired stances on a variety of issues. On economy, she is of the view that poor and weak financial decisions should not be rewarded. As a governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin initiated a program of paying $1,200 to every citizen of the sate to be spent on consumer goods. She firmly believes that workforce fundamentals are robust; an oversight is needed by the economy. The spending should be controlled by request in the first place; however, the power of veto can be used if required. Sarah Palin is a strong supporter of free market capitalism. (Johnson 123)

On the civil rights front, Sarah Palin supports the conventional theme of marriage, i.e. between man and woman. The bill to provide benefits to gay was vetoed by Sarah Palin, strictly as unconstitutional. She is a strong advocate on the issue of equal rights for women. The HIV/AIDS is considered a health disaster by her for the Alaska natives. On the corruption issues, Sarah Palin is of the view that gang members released on probation should wear typical electronic monitors. Maximum sentence should be awarded for the first-degree murder and death penalty for those persons who murder children.

Sarah Palin favors the theme of teaching intelligent design in schools and as governor committed in providing high-quality education. She also supports home schools, charter schools and different other alternative. Her point of view to improve the quality of education is that activities between teachers, business, schools and parents should be aligned. The parents should be aware about the school age and school spending. (http://gov.state.ak.us/bio.html)

Debate

During their first vice presidential debate, held on October 2, 2008 in St. Louis, the major issues discussed by Palin and Biden- the Democrat leader- were related to energy, economy and War in Iraq. Both concentrated on attacking the presidential candidates. As Biden associated McCain with President George W. Bush, Sarah Palin highlighted that Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, is a threat on foreign policy.

The economic policies of Bush over the last eight years were criticized by Biden and declared as the worst policies ever had by the nation. He also criticized the plan of McCain to extend the Bush’s policy of tax cuts specifically for the wealthy. Palin successfully defended, as expressed by most of the audiences, by narrating her experience as the governor that cutting tax can boost economy.

In the debate, she also criticized Obama and Biden for supporting tax increases and outlining huge amount- in billions- in new spending. Sarah Palin declared it as a backward manner to support the development of economy. Sarah Palin delivered clear and straightforward responses in the debate.

Sarah Palin- An Appropriate Candidate for Vice President

The young conservatives, in particular, believe that Sarah Palin has the charisma and is the most suitable choice as a Vice President of United States in 2008. The proponents of Palin accepts that she can act as a partner to succeed in accomplishing the priorities including; promote and support a free market economy to create opportunities for Americans; support in keeping United States safe from terrorists and enemies threatening economy and lives of people; and protect environment without compromising on economy. She is well-known for her positions, stance on various issues, admired performance as governor of Alaska and has a strong political record.

Governor Palin has all the capabilities and talents in providing enormous support to McCain bid for presidency. Sarah Palin seems to be the most appropriate candidate for vice presidency. She is, in fact, an independent and tough administrator who already has demonstrated by spending her time in office to be nominated even as a president in future.

Quotes by Sarah Palin

1. Politics isn’t just a game of competing interests and clashing parties. The people of America expect us to seek public office and to serve for the right reasons. And the right reason is to challenge the status quo and to serve the common good.

Speech delivered on Aug 29, 2008 at Dayton Ohio

2. Some of life's greatest opportunities come unexpectedly, and this is certainly the case today. Speech delivered on Aug 29, 2008 at Dayton Ohio

3. I am pro-life and I believe that marriage should only be between man and a woman.

Speech delivered on Aug 29, 2008 at Dayton Ohio

4. Now, no one expects us to agree on everything, whether in Juneau or in Washington. But we are expected to govern with integrity and good will and clear convictions and a servant’s heart.

Speech delivered on Aug 29. 2008 at Dayton Ohio

5. I never really set out to be involved in public affairs, much less to run for this office.

Speech delivered on Aug 29, 2008 at Dayton Ohio

(http://www.quotesandpoem.com/quotes/listquotes/author/sarah-palin)

Works Cited

Barnes, Fred. (2007) “The Most Popular Governor." The Weekly Standard. 012. 41

(2007): 13

Biographiq. “Sarah Palin- The Alaskan Barracuda.” Biographiq. (2008): 43

Governor Palin’s Biography retrieved on October 14, 2008 from

http://gov.state.ak.us/bio.html

James, Robert. “Sarah Palin The Real Deal.” White Stone books. (2008): 221

Johnson, Kaylene. “How a Hockey Mom Turned the Political Establishment

Upside Down.” Tyndale House Publishers. (2008): 123

http://www.quotesandpoem.com/quotes/listquotes/author/sarah-palin