Dogwhistling to Secessionists?

An integral part of the extreme right-wing, black helicopter crowd has always been tax resistance -- or at least it was until a Republican took the White House in 2001. Funny how the militia types largely disappeared after that, isn't it? Funny how their objection to taxes only exists when there's a Democrat in the White House, eh?

We already know about Sarah Palin's connection to the Alaska Independence Party:

"I share your party's vision of upholding the Constitution of our great state."

Even more so than the Constitution of the United States, right, Governor?

I hate to find myself agreeing with Thomas Friedman on anything, but I think he's on to something here, something I'm not sure he intended:

Criticizing Sarah Palin is truly shooting fish in a barrel. But given the huge attention she is getting, you can’t just ignore what she has to say. And there was one thing she said in the debate with Joe Biden that really sticks in my craw. It was when she turned to Biden and declared: “You said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that’s not patriotic.”

What an awful statement. Palin defended the government’s $700 billion rescue plan. She defended the surge in Iraq, where her own son is now serving. She defended sending more troops to Afghanistan. And yet, at the same time, she declared that Americans who pay their fair share of taxes to support all those government-led endeavors should not be considered patriotic.

Of course, if you're dog-whistling to the black helicopter crowd, saying that paying taxes is unpatriotic is no accident -- it's what you actually believe.

Sarah Palin: Militia Mom.

Kind of makes you wonder why someone who regards the government as so evil wants to be such an integral part of it.

More on the AIP and its resemblance to the militia movement here.