A lot of the liberal, leftist, and sinister-leaning news sources and weblogs around the world have been trying to make hay out of their belief that Sarah Palin, the current Republican Vice Presidential candidate, was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party. In reality, she was not (and on a related note, the New York Times fails again). However, now those self-same morons are demanding to know why Palin's husband was a member of the AIP (he is no longer), and why she gave speeches to the organization earlier in her political career. All said, these half-witted folks (who cannot even get the most basic of facts correct, apparently) are hypocritically trying to make out the AIP as a bunch of crackpot, tin-foil-hat-wearing insurgents, bent on destroying America as we know it now, and then they are taking it a step farther to try and paint Palin with the same broad, erroneous brush.

Well, let us take a look at the Alaskan Independence Party in their own words, shall we?

Their platform:

We pledge to exert our best efforts to accomplish the following:

1. To effect full compliance with the constitutions of the United States of America and the State of Alaska.

2. To support and defend States' Rights, Individual Rights, Property Rights, and the Equal Footing Doctrine as guaranteed by the constitutions of the United States of America and the state of Alaska.

3. To advocate the convening of a State Constitutional Convention at the constitutionally designated 10 year interval.

4. To reinforce the unalienable rights endowed by our Creator to Alaska law, by eliminating the use of the word "privilege" in the Alaska statutes.

5. To amend the Constitution of the State of Alaska so as to re-establish the rights of all Alaskan residents to entry upon all public lands within the state, and to acquire private property interest there in, under fair and reasonable conditions. Such property interest shall include surface and sub-surface patent.

6. To foster a constitutional amendment abolishing and prohibiting all property taxes.

7. To seek the complete repatriation of the public lands, held by the federal government, to the state and people of Alaska in conformance with Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17, of the federal constitution.

8. To prohibit all bureaucratic regulations and judicial rulings purporting to have the effect of law, except that which shall be approved by the elected legislature.

9. To preserve and protect the Alaska Permanent Fund, Permanent fund earnings, earnings reserve fund and individual Permanent Fund Dividends.

10. To provide for the direct popular election of the attorney general, all judges, and magistrates.

11. To provide for the development of unrestricted, statewide, surface transportation and utility corridors as needed by the public or any individual.

12. To affirm and assert every possible right-of-way established under R.S. 2477 of July 26, 1866, before its repeal by the Federal Land Management Policy Act of October 21, 1976.

13. To support the right of the individual to keep and bear arms.

14. To support the complete abolition of the concept of sovereign or governmental immunity, so as to restore accountability for public servants.

15. To support the rights of parents to privately or home school their children.

16. To support the privatization of government services.

17. To oppose the borrowing of money by government for any purposes other than for capital improvements.

18. To strengthen the traditional family and support individual accountability without government interference or regulation.

19. To support the right of jurors to judge the law as well as the facts, according to their conscience.

20. To support "Jobs for Alaskans...First!"

So... which of these, exactly, do those liberals/leftists/Leninists disagree with? Obviously point 16 would be a stickler, given that if government services get privatized, the little socialistic twits will have less control over them... But discounting that obvious bone of contention, what, really, do they have a problem with?

Moving on to the AIP's issues, here is what they have to say on the Constitution:

The AIP believes full compliance with the constitutions of the United States of America and the State of Alaska is necessary.

Todays Judges interpet what they want and it usually reflects their personal bias. We believe that the only way to effect full compliance is to read the documents and interpet them literally.

Sounds good to me. How about it, liberals? Moving on to State's Rights:

The AIP supports and defends States' Rights, Individual Rights, and the Equal Footing Doctrine as guaranteed by the constitutions of the United States of America and the state of Alaska.

The 10th Amendment to the US Constitution is the limitation of the federal government about infringing on what is the State's responsibility and what is theirs.

Individual Rights, everybody has the right to be "stupid" and it is not the governments responsibility to protect us from ourselves.

Equal Footing means that all states are equal. Unfortunately Alaska is treated as a colony and not an equal state in the union. Alaska is the only state where subsurface rights are owned by the government. The only state where the federal government controls hunting and fishing.

Holy crap on a crutch... I absolutely love their definition of "individual rights"... but then I am not a mindless Obamatron sycophant. Speaking of, what do you lefists have problems with in that quote? I mean, aside from the massive amounts of personal responsibility and accountability implied in their definition of "individual rights"? Moving on to Initiative and Referendum:

The AIP supports the liberalization of initiative and referendum procedures to hold legislatures accountable to the will of the people.

Today it is very difficult to get a petition onto the ballot. The law makers in Juneau are placing more roadblocks in front of the people's initiative process. The Present Lt. Governor, Fran Ulmer, has unilaterally held up petitions which were presented to be placed on the ballot, she has either delayed them or flat out rejected them because she disagrees with the process.

Instead of making it harder to vote on an issue we should have an easier route to take it to the voters. As long as the capitol is in Juneau, away from the population it will be difficult to regain control of our government.

Woah... making the will of the people easier to express... holding the government accountable for its actions... letting people take positive ownership of their government (as they rightfully should)... I can certainly see how that would scare the bejesus out of a person with sinister political leanings, but I certainly would not mind hearing it from the horse's mouth.

If you continue down on that particular page, you find they support private property, property rights, abolishment of property taxes (with a good argument for it: "When a person pays property tax, the land owner never truely own it. It can go back to the government for non payment of 'rent'."), prohibitions against bureaucratic regulations being enforced as law, an open-book government, popular election of attorney generals/judges/magistrates, development of a better road system in Alaska, the right of the individual to keep and bear arms, abolition of government immunity, educational choice for parents (in that parents who choose to homeschool their children should receive access to a proportional share of all money provided for educational purposes), a balanced federal government, parental responsibility, the rights of jurors, responsible logging/mining/fishing/agriculture, keeping the government out of the topic of abortion, rational environmentalism, and other remarkably reasonable, understandable, and sound stances. So which of these do the liberals have problems with?

Oh, right... the biggest sticking point the lefties seem to have is that of the Alaskan Independence Party's goals:

The Alaskan Independence Party's goal is the vote we were entitled to in 1958, one choice from among the following four alternatives:

1) Remain a Territory.
2) Become a separate and Independent Nation.
3) Accept Commonwealth status.
4) Become a State.

The call for this vote is in furtherance of the dream of the Alaskan Independence Party's founding father, Joe Vogler, which was for Alaskans to achieve independence under a minimal government, fully responsive to the people, promoting a peaceful and lawful means of resolving differences.

I will admit it - I was kind of surprised by this being their goal. After all, if some group in Tennessee went for that angle as well, I would be a wee bit surprised as well. However, Alaska has a slightly different statehood history than Tennessee, or any other state. Take a look for yourself, and then come back and tell me that the AIP's goals are so very "out there".

Hell, at this point, I almost am disappointed that Sarah Palin was not a member of this organization - it would be one hell of a positive bullet for her resume, at least for me. But trying to make an issue out of people trying to stand up for their personal and state's rights because no one else will? Yeah, that is almost as disgusting a political ploy as trying to use a woman's pregnant daughter as leverage against her... Oh. Wait. I forgot the kinds of liberals/leftists we are talking about...