Sarah Palin and the AIP

We learn more and more about John McCain's running mate Sarah Palin every day. And we're learning more and more about our 50th state as well. We've learned just how under populated Alaska is. Anchorage is the largest city with a population of approximately 280,000 people. Fairbanks is second with only 31,000 people and Juneau, the capital, has just 30,000. The fourth largest city, Wasilla, the town where Sarah Palin started here political career, has just 9000 people. The entire state of Alaska, the largest state by far as measured by land mass, has a population of only 670,000. Alaska is almost two and a half times as large as the next nearest state, Texas, but it's total population is less than that of the 17th largest city in America, Fort Worth, Texas.

Despite the over $14,000 per person that Washington sends to Alaska every year (the largest per capita recipient of any state in the country), a surprising number of Alaskans aren't exactly happy to be a part of these United States. About 13,000 Alaskan's are registered with the Alaskan Independence Party - the third largest political party in Alaska. The AIP was founded in 1984 to explore whether the 1958 vote by Alaskans authorizing statehood was legal and to work to explorer alternatives to statehood including remaining a territory, becoming a commonwealth, and even complete secession.

Another surprising fact is that as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin supports the "good work" of the AIP (aka AKIP). (Her husband, the "First Dude" Todd, was actually a member of the party in 1995 and 2000.) She even addressed the AIP 2008 Convention, welcoming their members and lauding their efforts. Here's the video:



To get a better taste of just what the AIP is about, here's an audio clip of John Vogler (AIP founder pictured above) expressing his feeling about the United States. Is someone who supports such an organization really qualified to be Vice President of the United States?? What does this say about her judgment? What does her selection say about John McCain's judgment?