Palin and Pauline: what have they got in common?

Last night, in my miscellaneous musings, I had an idea which may strike many of you as odd. It is: Sarah Palin is America’s equivalent of Pauline Hanson.  That probably sounds strange but stay with me here, okay?

 I’ve found that regarding Sarah Palin, I’m more than a little apprehensive of coming out and saying anything about her. I feel that I should be inspired by her as she is both a woman in power and clearly intelligent. To have a woman that close to such a powerful position in the USA is a great thing. However, in my mind, something’s missing. Some of her policies scare me as they seem archaic and, in my opinion, can only take the nation backward. She is strongly anti-abortion, even in the cases of rape and incest. She wants to take polar bears and beluga whales off the endangered species list, in part so that the areas where they live can be used for oil drilling.  She opposes same-sex marriage and supports the possibility of teaching creationism in schools.

But love her or loathe her, she’s got the world talking and has caught everyone’s attention in a big way. I was reminded of former One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson.  She too had ideas that a lot of people didn’t agree with and was often mocked and cited as racist. She too should have been an inspirational woman for her ability to make her stance known, but the stance itself ruffled a few too many feathers for this to happen.

I started compiling a list in my head of all the similarities between Palin and Hanson with the help of the internet and came up with a few interesting resemblances.

Both came from relative obscurity before their bursts on to the media scene. Sarah Palin was the Governor of Alaska, and Pauline Hanson was originally a councillor in Ipswich before getting the Oxley seat for the House of Representatives.

Even earlier than this, they both came from humble backgrounds.  Hanson was raised in Woolloongabba in Brisbane, and her dad ran a fish and chips shop.  She left school at 15 and had a variety of clerical jobs and at one stage, owned her own fish and chips shop.  

Palin’s parents were a school secretary and a science teacher. The family moved to Alaska when she was young, where she enjoyed a childhood filled with moose hunting, running and playing basketball. She had more of an education than Hanson, attending several different universities, eventually completely a Bachelor of Science in communications/journalism.

Both are also mothers– Hanson has four children and Palin has five.

 Most importantly, both have succeeded in getting ordinary people to have political opinions.  People that I know who usually don’t think about politics have definite opinions on both Pauline Hanson and Sarah Palin, and they’re not necessarily positive.

Whatever your opinions though, Pauline Hanson had a tremendous impact on that period’s politics and Palin is sure to be the same.  Better keep an eye out, as I have a feeling that Sarah Palin is going to stir things up a lot more before she’s done.