Sarah Palin’s Latest Incredibly Moronic Idea

On March 13th, at 4 p.m. EST, Sarah Palin wants you (if you are an American, in America) to drive out to your nearest freeway, if you aren’t there already, pull your car, truck or van over to the shoulder, and stay there for an hour.  While there, she wants you to put a sign in your window, supposedly something about how Obama is driving the country in the wrong direction, honk your horn, send text messages and tweets and stuff like that, and stay there for an hour.

A Dangerous Mind

I suppose she gets a couple of points for creativity.  It’s not just another town hall meeting or a protest march.  However, there are a couple of problems with her plan.

First, it might be illegal.  The shoulders of the interstate are supposed to be for emergency stopping only.  Back in my hitch-hiking days, I heard that from plenty of cops.  Generally, they just told me to get off the freeway but a couple of times there was nastier harassment.   They might be more sympathetic to an overweight, elderly couple sitting on lawnchairs behind their SUV.  Maybe not.  If there are a lot of these people, coast to coast, violating all 50 different sets of state laws at once, my guess is some cops will be in a good mood, some not.  Traffic citations will be issued.

Secondly, it’s dangerous.  Generally, if you pull over to the shoulder, to change a tire or to jump out and take a leak, your chances of starting up again in a couple of minutes without having been run over by a truck driver with Tourette Syndrome are pretty good.  However, put a couple of million people over at the side of the road for an hour each, shouting slogans at passing vehicles, and the chances of somebody getting hurt increase exponentially.  I’m sure Sarah just hasn’t thought this through, but she really is endangering her followers.

Third, it could be really annoying.  For every one of those people who stop for an hour, there are bound to be a few people who stop and ask if they need help.  My guess is, some of them will not be amused.

Fourth, even if it goes off exactly as planned, the message they are sending is really stupid.  “We do not like the country moving forward, we are going to stop.”

My guess is that the numbers will be small enough and the disruption minimal enough (March 13th is a Sunday.  Most teabaggers live in rural areas.) that the whole thing will pass completely unnoticed.  But that would be the best case scenario.

So, why plan a demonstration where the best case scenario is that nobody will even notice it?  Well, nobody ever said that Sarah was smart.  At least, nobody I know.