Who can argue? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/opinion/08friedman.html?hp Op-Ed Columnist Palinâs Kind of Patriotism By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Published: October 7, 2008 Criticizing Sarah Palin is truly shooting fish in a barrel. But given the huge attention she is getting, you canât just ignore what she has to say. And there was one thing she said in the debate with Joe Biden that really sticks in my craw. It was when she turned to Biden and declared: âYou said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, thatâs not patriotic.â What an awful statement. Palin defended the governmentâs $700 billion rescue plan. She defended the surge in Iraq, where her own son is now serving. She defended sending more troops to Afghanistan. And yet, at the same time, she declared that Americans who pay their fair share of taxes to support all those government-led endeavors should not be considered patriotic. I only wish she had been asked: âGovernor Palin, if paying taxes is not considered patriotic in your neighborhood, who is going to pay for the body armor that will protect your son in Iraq? Who is going to pay for the bailout you endorsed? If it isnât from tax revenues, there are only two ways to pay for those big projects â printing more money or borrowing more money. Do you think borrowing money from China is more patriotic than raising it in taxes from Americans?â That is not putting America first. That is selling America first. Sorry, I grew up in a very middle-class family in a very middle-class suburb of Minneapolis, and my parents taught me that paying taxes, while certainly no fun, was how we paid for the police and the Army, our public universities and local schools, scientific research and Medicare for the elderly. No one said it better than Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: âI like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.â I can understand someone saying that the government has no business bailing out the financial system, but I canât understand someone arguing that we should do that but not pay for it with taxes. I can understand someone saying we have no business in Iraq, but I canât understand someone who advocates staying in Iraq until âvictoryâ declaring that paying taxes to fund that is not patriotic. How in the world can conservative commentators write with a straight face that this woman should be vice president of the United States? Do these people understand what serious trouble our country is in right now? We are in the middle of an economic perfect storm, and we donât know how much worse itâs going to get. People all over the world are hoarding cash, and no bank feels that it can fully trust anyone it is doing business with anywhere in the world. Did you notice that the government of Iceland just seized the countryâs second-largest bank and today is begging Russia for a $5 billion loan to stave off ânational bankruptcy.â What does that say? It tells you that financial globalization has gone so much farther and faster than regulatory institutions could govern it. Our crisis could bankrupt Iceland! Who knew? And we have not yet even felt the full economic brunt here. I fear we may be at that moment just before the tsunami hits â when the birds take flight and the insects stop chirping because their acute senses can feel what is coming before humans can. At this moment, only good governance can save us. I am not sure that this crisis will end without every government in every major economy guaranteeing the creditworthiness of every financial institution it regulates. That may be the only way to get lending going again. Organizing something that big and complex will take some really smart governance and seasoned leadership. Whether or not I agree with John McCain, he is of presidential timber. But putting the country in the position where a total novice like Sarah Palin could be asked to steer us through possibly the most serious economic crisis of our lives is flat out reckless. It is the opposite of conservative. And please donât tell me she will hire smart advisers. What happens when her two smartest advisers disagree? And please also donât tell me she is an âenergy expert.â She is an energy expert exactly the same way the king of Saudi Arabia is an energy expert â by accident of residence. Palin happens to be governor of the Saudi Arabia of America â Alaska â and the only energy expertise she has is the same as the king of Saudi Arabiaâs. Itâs about how the windfall profits from the oil in their respective kingdoms should be divided between the oil companies and the people. At least the king of Saudi Arabia, in advocating âdrill baby drill,â is serving his countryâs interests â by prolonging Americaâs dependence on oil. My problem with Palin is that she is also serving his countryâs interests â by prolonging Americaâs dependence on oil. Thatâs not patriotic. Patriotic is offering a plan to build our economy â not by tax cuts or punching more holes in the ground, but by empowering more Americans to work in productive and innovative jobs. If Palin has that kind of a plan, I havenât heard it.