NICK GILLESPIE: Is Sarah Palin A Libertarian?

No, but she’s closer than anyone we’re likely to elect. But she’s not cool enough for a lot of libertarians. Though you’d think after the disastrous “Obamatarian” fad, they’d have learned about cool.

UPDATE: Reader Alysia Lucas writes:

Sarah Palin *is* the closest thing to a libertarian. Alaska is one of the more libertarian states in the US due to the kinds of folks who settled the state. She was a very popular politician there before the national media tore her to pieces.

I’ve long thought that people confuse her actions as a mayor and governor (more libertarian-leaning) with her expressed personal beliefs and how she lives her own life (as a committed Christian). I’ve read both her books and she comes across as an intelligent, practical person who understands the fallibility of man. I think she subscribes to the doctrine of setting up laws such that even the wrong people are forced to do the right thing. I think both she and Rick Perry would favor a more minimalist government than the current administration.

I think she’s a victim of oikophobia, a prejudice to which all too many libertarians are prone, alas.