Mr. Friedman,

In your article "Palin's Kind of Patriotism", I believe you completely misrepresent Sarah Palin's statement about taxes and patriotism in the Vice Presidential candidate debate last week.  While perhaps clumsily worded, it was fairly obvious that Gov. Palin was referring to a quote from Sen. Biden, where he suggested that paying higher taxes was patriotic; or, as the Associated Press headline put it:  "Biden calls paying higher taxes a patriotic act".  It seemed fairly obvious that she was not suggesting that people should unlawfully avoid paying taxes as you imply.

I also disagree with your assertion that taking to market oil resources that we already possess is unpatriotic or even counter to our interests.  As we look to the future and alternative sources of energy, it seems foolish to ignore valuable resources we can use now.  The eventual successor to oil is unknown, as is the timetable for discovering it; meanwhile, we have known reserves of it in Alaska, and to willingly refuse to pursue them seems foolish and shortsighted.

I would further remind you that raising taxes on businesses, capital, income, and prosperity does nothing to "empower[] more Americans to work in productive and innovative jobs".

Sincerely,
Dave Smith
Houston, TX