Palin and Steyn Agree: Americans Need to Take Charge of Their Own Destiny

Sarah Palin and Mark Steyn both struck the same chord this week: the answer to the nation's problems will come from Americans themselves.

Both Steyn and Palin go on to say it will not be in electing the right, magical leader. Palin adds that after Americans have done the heavy lifting themselves, electing good leaders to get government out of the way will result in the private sector turning the economy around.

In an interview with Matt Lewis, Mark Steyn (about the 7:55 mark) says:

"I’m asked a lot of the time because I’m in the punditry game which candidate is going to save the republic in November next year. Well, the reality is no candidate is going to save the republic. You’ve got to save the Republic. Millions and millions of Americans got to save the Republic.

"And if as a citizen you’re not interested in being in that game, and you’d rather just some godlike figure descended from the heavens, well we tried that in 2008. Didn’t work out too great.

"And I don’t think we should be in that business in 2012, because the guy we elect in 2012 is going to be, if the IMF is correct and China is going to become the dominant economic power in 2016, the guy we elect next year is going to be the last president of the United States to preside over the world’s leading economy. So, it’s a consequential election.

"And the best thing I think citizens can do is create the climate on the ground whereby we need to move the meter of political discourse citizen by citizen the way the Tea Party guys did in 2009, 2010. That’s far more important than waiting for some glamor boy to turn up and be the perfect candidate. Whether it’s, you know, Rick Perry, whoever. This isn’t about a superstar politician. This is about millions of citizens."

Sarah Palin, in an interview with Greta Van Susteren, says (about the 4:10 mark):

"You know that is a great question, what we can all do to help our country right now.

"One thing we cannot do is put our faith in an individual, a politician, nor even really a political party or government policies.

"I talked about this in my gubernatorial inaugural address a few years ago. I said, 'Government cannot make you happy, healthy, wealthy or wise.' We have to reach within ourselves and find within us the entrepreneurial spirit, the ingenuity, the work ethic, those things that Americans back in pioneering days built and resulted in the greatest, most prosperous, most exceptional country on earth.

"We have to look within ourselves, do what we can to create our own jobs. Don’t wait for government to create jobs for us. They’re just going to mess it up, that bureaucratic morass that we find in Washington, D. C. Let’s get out there and let’s hire people, let’s save for the future. We have to make sure that we’re taking care of our families and our small businesses and being prudent and planning ahead. But, let’s get out there and be bold with our own initiatives and not wait for that elite bubble in Washington, D. C., those folks who are within that bubble, to tell us how it’s going to be and how the economy is going to be planned for us. They just keep messing it up, Greta.

"And we’re going to have to do that within ourselves and in our own families, in our own small communities and in our own states. And kind of ignore the chaos and the turbulence that’s coming out of Washington, D. C. And pull ourselves up from the bootstraps just like Americans used to do. Ignore the problems in Washington. Let’s take care of it ourselves.

"And then let’s hope that soon we do have elected officials who will come in and get government out of the way so that the private sector can do what it does best and stimulate the economy."