US politics have been roiled for the past few days in reaction to the announcement of John McCain's running mate.  Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska is an unknown to a national audience.  She has very little political experience, having served in a significant policy-making office for less than two years.  Although she aligns herself with conservative positions on social issues, and thus has been championed by conservative commentators, she has zero foreign policy background.  Zero.  To my mind she is not qualified to be Vice President. 

    Indeed, to any of her supporters I would ask (and I would also ask them to answer without changing the subject to Obama): Is Palin prepared to assume the role of Commander-in-Chief right now?  Of course she is not.  And that tells us a great deal about McCain's political ploy in all of this: he is not interested in governing but merely in seizing power.  And just to be clear: there are women who I believe are prepared to assume the role of Commander-in-Chief.  Hillary for one.  On the Republican side: Condi Rich, obviously; even though I disagree with virtually all of her foreign policy decisions.  But also various Republican women in the Senate, whom I might also disagree with.  My beef with Palin is not her gender, but her unpreparedness.  And this is not really a beef with Palin, but with McCain.  He should not have chosen her.

    But who cares what I think.  My job, here on this blog at least, is to work through how today's news might be interpreted from the point of view of Confucianism and Taoism.  And when I take the Taoist perspective (and put aside my personal political views), Sarah Palin looks pretty good.

    Before we go any further, I will remind you that a couple of years ago I posted a piece (meant to be humorous!) that argued George W. Bush is a Taoist sage.  And it is in that spirit that Paline, too, is a good Taoist candidate.

    Remember, Taoism is deeply skeptical of human knowledge, our capacity to understand Way, and is also wary of our desire to act upon the world.  Thus, the voice of a person who follows Way, in section 20 of the Tao Te Ching, says:

…People all have enough and more.
But I'm abandoned and destitute,
an absolute simpleton, this mind of mine so utterly
muddled and blank.

People all have a purpose in life,
but I'm inept, thoroughly useless and backward.
I'll never be like other people….

     "Simpleton," "muddled," "Inept" – they may seem harsh words to describe Palin but they come close.  She's obviously not ready for national executive power – and that makes her a perfect Taoist candidate!

     But, just like Taoism as a philosophy, which was appropriated and used by Legalists in thier effort to seize and maintain power, Palin the Taoist candidate is being used by Legalist McCain, who is obviously without principles short of gaining power, to further a political project.  Let's hope that, in this case, enough people will be able to see through the political machinations and not let the Taoist appeal obscure the Legalist power play.