She gets a $5 million advance for going public with her ignorance, lack of intellectual skills and adherence to bigotry and “faith” over reason. This is a message of promise to her fans. They can cling to the idea that any one of them can also get rich without the hardwork, “book learning” and intellectual activity that their teachers kept telling them they need.

Sarah, et al. are examples that wallowing in your ignorance, publicly braying in things other people are ashamed even to whisper when drunk, can lead to fabulous wealth.

This is no different from the high school kid who will ditch classes for extra football practice, smashing his head and body in ways that medicine tells us will strip years from his life. Even though any teacher could tell him that only a tiny fraction of one percent of high school hopefuls will ever play football for money, the dream is strong enough to encourage tens of thousands to sacrifice their lives and health, every year, in a vain hope that they will be chosen.

We need to focus less on the Palins of the world and more on the workers, children, and others to whom they are marketed.

It’s a lot like blaming Joe Liberman for being a sell-out, when the worse sell-outs are the 70% who don’t do their social duty by voting, and therefore, turn their governance over to the Libermans.