Much of the discussion has centered around whether Palin’s attempts to fire the librarian were unusual, which skews the discussion away from what I find the most unusual: the fact Palin had asked such questions of her librarian in the first place, right out of the chute. That indicated a sense of priority. Palin’s membership in a church, Assembly of God, which at the time of her election was taking aggressive stands on moral issues to include picketing of the Wasilla library, as well as her campaign’s highly unusual focus on many of these wedge issues (as opposed to the typical focus of local campaigns on government services), provide ample context for concern about a fundamentalist, authoritarian approach.
More focus needs to be placed on context: the local Matanuska-Susitna Valley culture and environment that allowed Palin to flourish politically.
There is an undeniably potent strain of right-wing religious fundamentalism in the region where she came to power. She served on the board of the Valley Hospital Association, the governing body of the local community hospital, from, as far as I can ascertain, 2005 to 2006. A previous member and then director of the board, Karen Vosburgh, testified before Congress in 2002 in favor of proposed legislation adding hospitals to the list of health care providers that could deny abortions based on moral convictions. (Her testimony is about one-sixth the way down on the link.) Valley Hospital was the only hospital in the nation represented at the hearing in favor of the legislation. Vosburgh told of the strategy of loading the hospital board with anti-abortionists who then passed a resolution to require the hospital to refuse to perform abortions except in certain limited cases, and how court rulings based on current law had thwarted these efforts.
As an example of where moral righteousness can lead, this article from the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman dated May 31, 2004 (the year before Palin’s term began) describes a controversy that arose when director Vosburgh began to ask applicants whether they were pro-choice or pro-life. Shades of Monica Goodling. Vosburgh later became head of Alaska Right to Life. (Palin is a member of the anti-abortion group, Feminists for Life.)
Another news story from the Frontiersman in late 2005 gives a further sense of the local culture of fundamentalism and willingness to censor. A play with, quote, a few F-words and which was rated PG-13 in the movie version, was pulled after the board realized the play contained the obscenities.
Censorship of books suddenly does not seem to so far-fetched. If that’s what they need up there in the Mat-Su Valley to make it all work, fine with me - their call. But having a product of such a culture and its current standard-bearer coming down and telling us that we of the Lower 49 haven’t been doing it right is another matter completely. And the presidential candidate who invited this absurdity upon us is worthy of any further scrutiny that can be brought to bear, at the very least. Matt Damon takes it home: