Pakistan and Palin

I was just listening to the NewsHour podcast about how Pakistan has approved Islamic law in its northwestern Swat Valley as part of a deal with the Taliban. While such a move may seem controversial for some, it reminded me a lot of the Republicans in general and Sarah Palin in particular.

Think about it. There’s Sarah Palin in her northwestern region (Alaska) of the U.S. campaigning to impose Christian Law on her state and the nation. Of course, no one calls it Christian Shariah, but essentially Palin and her Republican pals want to legislate from the Bible. At times they call it “states’ rights”, like when they say that the states should have the right to prohibit abortion or allow prayer in school. On gay rights, such as same sex marriage, though, Republicans are suspiciously very much against states’ rights. Rather, it’s about good old down home, cornfed values, backed-up by Bible-verse.

With a purely states’ rights argument, there is nothing the Republicans can find fault with the Swat Valley’s own right to be free from the repressive confines of centralized regulation. On everything from abortion, education, science, marriage, censorship and local values, its religious-based legislation that the Taliban and Palin crowd pray for.