Human beings love heroes.  In fact, we are desperate for them - more so now than ever.  The sad part is that we look for our heroes in all the wrong places - in Hollywood, on television talk shows, and in the world of semi-illiterate athletes. 

Alas, we are intellectually and morally lost souls in a declining culture of meaninglessness.  Our heroes are people like Oprah, Princess Diana, and Warren Buffett.  Heroes?  Not!

As a result, when someone who at least resembles a real hero comes along, we get really excited.  A pretty face ... a wholesome smile ... a star athlete ... a sharp-shooting member of the NRA ... a loving mother of five who happily welcomes a Downs syndrome child into her family ... a lover of caribou stew ... a fearsome fighter of corruption ... a mayor ... a governor ... and, now, a vice presidential candidate - all in one woman!

It's true that our affinity to hero worship is often nothing more than an escape from our own mediocre stations in life.  But if you're going to escape, what better way to do it than by living vicariously through a Sarah Palin?

And isn't it fun to know that Hillary is gnashing her teeth and throwing her dog against the wall, while B. McBama is probably having panic meetings with Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers about the possibility that their Marxist revolution could be set back decades by this upstart from Alaska?

But before we get too excited, let us remind ourselves of a depressing reality of life:  Power corrupts.  The emotional side of me is cheering for Sarah Palin to rip Washington apart.  But the intellectual side of me - the side that has studied and witnessed all too much history and all too much human nature in action - finds it hard to believe that, once inside the Beltway, Sarah Palin will be able to avoid playing ball with the insiders and the power brokers.

Why?  Because that's the way a democratic republic works.  If you don't play ball, you're soon out of the game (as Ron Paul can tell you).  The joy of understanding for most people is not the understanding that Leonardo da Vinci had in mind.  The only understanding the masses are familiar with is that if they demand more from politicians, they will get more. 

Which is one of the chief reasons why otherwise noble people quickly become corrupted when they are elected to public office.  Politicians understand that votes are a commodity they can buy - with other people's money! 

So, let's enjoy Sarah Palin while she lasts - and hope that if the system does get to her, she will at least go down with a fight.  Between now and the day she sells off the last piece of her conservative/libertarian soul, she could be a great inspiration to us common folk - and a heck of a lot of fun to watch.

On that note, I shall close with a personal appeal to Mrs. Palin:  Governor, please give us a reasonable amount of time to enjoy our hero worship before allowing yourself to become trapped into playing the Compromising Your Principles Game.  If you can at least resist the temptation to bribe voters throughout the presidential campaign, you may lose the election ... but you can count on millions of us to continue to think of you as a genuine hero.