ALASKA'S BUSH DOCTRINE

Just when I've decided I can't read one more sentence about Sarah Palin, another Alaskan author pens an essay that gives me pause. Today it's Scott Woodham's "Why Sarah Didn't Blink," in The Alaska Dispatch.

Pundits have been dissecting Sarah's non-answer to Charlie Gibson's question about the Bush doctrine. Ironically, what caused the non-answer is Alaska's own Bush doctrine, otherwise known as "can-do" spirit. As Woodham points out, it's the reason why Sarah didn't blink when offered a shot at the VP slot.

When you live in the Alaskan Bush, you have to be resourceful. You rely on your own talents and skills, no matter how minimal, because the experts aren't around. You take your chances with things like home improvement and small engine repair, even if you know little about them. You muddle through. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Blue tarp roofs, Tyvek "siding," snowmachine carcasses, and personal junkyards of pieces and parts happen when the Alaskan Bush doctrine fails. "Can't do" trash litters yards throughout the Alaskan Bush.

You have to admire the guts, the self-reliance, the ingenuity. But our country's discard pile of failed policies and bad faith is already overflowing. Neither Bush doctrine is good for the long-term health of our nation, or our world.