(AP Photo/The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, Robert DeBerry)

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Like Palin, many people have a higher calling, but most who choose to follow a higher calling are willing to name the path they are choosing to follow.

After her press conference on July 3rd, Palin's resignation not only caught close friends, the Alaskan people and the country off-guard, but in the video of the resignation, Palin's message and reasoning was unclear. The media in the past few days has attempted to seek clarification of why Palin resigned both by reporting on her response to questions, but also by seeking clarification from those surrounding the former governor. Original reports had Palin defending her actions by saying that she was a point guard handing the ball off in order that her team might win, might advance, though her goal was not clear and her reference to how the team played a part in Alaska's government was vague. Never giving a definitive answer, Palin continues to skirt around her goal. As a result, the media's writing can only base their articles on the scant information they have. Palin again claims that she is a victim of the press and yet, her lack of clarity has stirred the pot of confusion and set many minds (liberal and conservative alike) to roiling about her motives and what game she is playing.

Earlier today CNN reports that Palin's reason for resigning prematurely is her decision to follow a "higher calling". The article then proceeds to interview leading political strategists about the wisdom or lack of wisdom in her rash decision. The article focuses on whether Palin's decision is a decision to lay groundwork for a presidential run in 2012. CNN mentions Palin's usage of the phrase "higher calling" but does not focus on her meaning...if she has one.

Associated Press reporter, Mark Thiessen, shows Palin first speaking in the political rhetoric of a governor:

"I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint," she said.

While Palin is a mother and a person of faith, in her profession she is a politician. There is no problem with a mother of faith being a politician, but she is a politician who is using language ("higher calling") not used in political circles and using language that is often challenging even within faith communities. As a governor, Palin has responsibilities to her job, but also to the people who trust her with government in Alaska. If she desires a national political stage, it is important that she learn quickly to define her game plan and how that fits into the scheme of government and if she chooses to mix metaphors, it will be helpful to all if she will speak in a manner where most of our U.S. citizens can understand her meaning. She wants Washington and the media to understand her and yet, in her mixed metaphors and her inability to convey her vision or her "higher calling", Palin appears to be confused and undependable.

Both the CNN article and the AP quote Palin stating:

"How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country," Palin said in a statement attributed to her on her Facebook page. "And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make. But every American understands what it takes to make a decision because it's right for all, including your family."

In this paragraph we see Palin switching from the language of politics to the language of faith. They are not similar (something to do with that issue of separation of church and state). Palin in this paragraph shows that she has an unrealistic expectation for the secular media to understand the term "higher calling" in a manner that is usually reserved for circles of faith and religion. Even then, Palin's use of stating she has a higher calling leaves not only the media in the lurch, but also conveys a mystery that is not the mystery of Christ. Her inability and unwillingness to name her vision, her higher calling leaves only confusion.
 

Sarah Palin then goes on to wonder aloud why others can move on to a higher calling without question and then she is held accountable. Who are the others? What other politicians have suddenly, without warning left office to follow a higher calling without explaining why? Most political posts are deserted due to improprieties not due to the governor or senator's decision to follow a higher calling.

When people of faith speak of a higher calling that usually means a person has made a decision to go into ministry or the mission field, not into politics - though many would argue some good missionaries might help the political scene. A higher calling can often mean a calling to a specific vocation, but again, the meaning usually conveyed with such terminology is one of a choice of God above all else rather than politics or country. If Palin had used "vocation" rather than speaking of "a higher calling", her new path might seem a little clearer since the word "vocation" can mean either a religious path or a secular path, but still, when we look at the word vocation it leads us to those words of "calling" that are often associated with a "divine call to a religious life":

vo·ca·tion
–noun
1.     a particular occupation, business, or profession; calling.
2.     a strong impulse or inclination to follow a particular activity or career.
3.     a divine call to God's service or to the Christian life.
4.     a function or station in life to which one is called by God: the religious vocation; the vocation of marriage.

Origin: 1400–50; late ME vocacio(u)n < L voc?ti?n- (s. of voc?ti?) a call, summons, equiv. to voc?t(us) ptp. of voc?re to call (see -ate 1  ) + -i?n-  -ion

   1. A regular occupation, especially one for which a person is particularly suited or qualified.
   2. An inclination, as if in response to a summons, to undertake a certain kind of work, especially a religious career; a calling.

[Middle English vocacioun, divine call to a religious life, from Old French vocation, from Latin voc?ti?, voc?ti?n-, a calling, from voc?tus, past participle of voc?re, to call; see wekw- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition



A vocation, or a higher calling is an action a person chooses in order to live a life devoted to the well-being of all involved, and the living of this higher calling implies...often demands extra respect and personal regard for others. A higher calling arises out of a person's gifts that manifest as one grows in faith, maturity and understanding. Indeed, a political leader might possess specific gifts and talents that would qualify the life of politics as a vocational choice. These gifts would be dedication, respect, honesty and integrity as well as a firm understanding of the U.S. government, its policies and how to communicate with fellow politicians and advisors. Politicians certainly have a specific way of life and politics can be a vehicle for a better life for all.


Hannah Arendt, one of the most important political theorists in the 20th century, believed that freedom is "synonymous with collective political action among equals". As a governor, Sarah Palin chose a vocation focused on being a leader who would work with the people of Alaska and also work with Washington. A political leader is one who has chosen a profession that ideally seeks to find a way to bring a diverse group of people into living together peacefully. The word politics is a mixture of Greek words meaning "citizens" and "city" and is always associated with governance whether in a federal or a religious institution. Politics is not about individual achievement, but is about finding a way to live and work together as a collective people.

Sarah Palin wishes to convey to the media and her supporters that she is a leader of the people and of the country. Yet, by choosing a renegade path that even her own party does not understand; without offering a bit of an explanation so that others might seek understanding, she has instead caused major confusion as well as sent ripples of betrayal throughout her state and possibly the country. Palin has chosen to act outside of the collective for personal gain as far as anyone can tell. To truly have Alaska's best interest in mind, Palin would have stayed the course of her term rather than turning the state's government on its head.

A "higher calling" implies a goal, a goal that is important enough that one would name the calling. When people leave important posts to follow a higher calling most realize the importance of naming the goal, so that not only will supporters follow and understand, but so that chaos will not ruin the day. By refusing to name her "higher calling" Palin has only proven that she lacks the ability to lead a state, much less a country.


"Action without a name, a "who" attached to it, is meaningless."
                  Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)