America By Heart Unabridged CD (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
I must say I have to disagree with some of the recent reviews posted on here regarding this book because I LOVED THIS BOOK! I was not a Sarah Palin supporter to begin with I picked up this book because of the title and because although I do not agree on everything Mrs. Palin stands for I do have American Pride in common with. I loved all the references she used throughout this book from historical people. Reading this book just made me feel so proud all over again to be an American and see all of our great accomplishments as a country. Before reading this book, I had not read her first book and seeing that it got better reviews than this one, I can’t wait to read it now! I will definitely be saving this book in my favorite’s library I picked up this book because it was on the Best Seller stand at the library—that, and someone I highly respect gave it a good review. If it wasn't for these two circumstances I don't think I would have ever flipped through its pages. Needless to say I’m glad I did get a chance to read it.There was much between the covers I didn't particularly like (especially her rants about President Obama not thinking America is the greatest nation in the world, as well as some of her old fashioned, “good ole-boy” Republican politics), but there was quite a bit I did thoroughly enjoy. It was like picking through a bowl of jelly beans—many of the words were sweet to my taste while I frequently got a flavor I didn't particularly enjoy and made me wish I didn’t start eating jelly beans (think “butter popcorn” flavor). I'm interested in Palin not because I think she would be a good President, but because I wanted to read how her faith informs her values for morality in politics. Oftentimes, and to our great shame, Christianity has been synonymous with the Republican Party and too tightly integrated with politics. We claim we're a Christian nation and that we need a “Christian” President. But why, as Christians, do we need to politically force our changed hearts through external governmental laws? Jesus told us that repentance begins in the heart, not through outward laws of morality. Christianity is not morality—though the latter is certainly ingrained in the former. Throughout much of the book Palin seems to talk about America being a Christian nation purely by inference. But she finally comes out and claims it isn't so. We are just a nation founded on Christian ideals and sticking up for the Christian idea of freedom. Over and over again she states America represents the freedom everyone possesses to worship or not worship the God he or she chooses. She writes in reference to a statistic that the great majority of the people in the United States believe in a God or some form of higher power: “Does that mean we're a Judeo-Christian nation, solely because most Americans believe in Judeo-Christian tenets? No. But it does mean that the faith of our Founding Fathers shaped our nation in critical ways. They created a country that, in George Washington's words, relies on faith as an ‘indispensable support.’ They explicitly disavowed government establishing any particular religion, but they unmistakably relied on religion to produce the kinds of citizens that could live successfully in the state of political freedom. And this, I firmly believe, is one of the things that has always made us an exceptional nation” (183). With this I wholeheartedly agree. Another theme I particularly liked was her writing about how government is supposed to serve the people, not vice-versa. Government was created by the people for the people. Again she writes, “It is to keep faith with these words that our constitution begins ‘We the people.’ In America, the people are sovereign, not just as a group, but individually. We are endowed by our Creator with this sovereignty. That means no person, no king and no government, can rule us without our consent. We all have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that wasn’t given to us by government; it was given to us by God. Therefore, it can't rightly be taken away by government” (11). Furthermore, “We shouldn't have to work for government; our government should work for us” (130). She begins with the basis that we're all created by God and government is to facilitate our freedom of choice to worship (or not) the God whom we choose, thus working out our own beliefs and convictions. I echo Douglas Wilson’s assessment of her that she is a real Christian. A low point for me comes in the conclusion, when answering the “how” of going forward with all of her theoretical changes and ideals for our country (again, many of them really, really good objectives), Palin writes, “The answer is closer than many of us realize. We don't need a manifesto. We don't need a new party. We just need to honor what our country is and was meant to be. And we need to remember the common sense most of us learned before we went to kindergarten” (267). And sadly, it is with statements like these that she is portrayed through the lenses of many Americans. Surely we all want someone with more intelligence than a kindergartener in charge of our country. Then again, we all say some pretty dumb things at times.
What do You think about America By Heart Unabridged CD (2010)?
I like this book! I think Sarah had a lot of good things to say.
—meemee
Not as good as Going Rogue but I still liked it.
—cecel
