Everything I know about political behavior, I learned from Animal Planet. And nothing illustrates the instinctual nature of politics better than the battle between Sarah Palin and the established political intelligentsia. While political attacks are expected in hotly contested elections, I couldn’t understand the extreme vitriol heaped on Palin during and after her entry on the national scene. Although well to the right of the national media, her views seemed within the mainstream and her interview gaffes no more foolish than seen with other candidates. Her very presence, however, transcends normal politics and the attacks primal. To understand why, one can look to the social behavior of pack animals, such as wolves.
Containing all the essential elements of politics and society, the pack is led by the alpha couple who organizes the hunt, eat first at the kill and dominate all social behavior. At the bottom we find the omega wolf; eating the last scraps of the carcass and routinely abused by other pack members. Between the alpha and the omega, we have the beta wolves supplicating to the alpha through licking and other demonstrations of submission. Most of us are betas. More importantly, the betas lead in the abuse of the omega wolf, thus reinforcing the established social order. Although cruel, alpha couple behavior benefits the entire pack, even the omega, as long as the kill feeds all members. When the hunt falls short, however, the existing social order kicks in and the omegas go hungry or are expelled. At the expense of the omegas, the rest of the pack continues intact and all that remains is selecting the next designated victim.
Enter Sara Palin, the new alpha female. Highly visible and working at the margins of the existing pack, she represents a real problem to the current order; she doesn’t follow the accepted rules for “alphas in waiting.” Try as best as they can, the old alphas cannot diminish or relegate her to the omega role. In the wake of the Great Recession, her authority comes from former betas newly awaken to their plight as designated “omegas in waiting” and the destructive self consumption of the old pack. Moving into greater irrationality, the old betas call the dissent of omegas racist and create an obligation to expropriate wealth. Palin’s threat to the old pack is further compounded as she creates a new pack with new rules of compliant behavior. Demonstrated on The Learning Channel (TLC), her Alaska travelogue shows the new rules; self-reliance, hard work and family obligations rather than government dependence, victim-hood and abortion rights. The TLC program presents Palin in sharp contrast to her 2008 bid as John McCain’s vice-presidential partner where she unsuccessfully tried to master the behavioral rules of the old pack. Her goal now far exceeds the mere ascendance as a new alpha in the old pack, but establishing a new pack with alternative rules of behavior. Others may wish to create and lead a new pack, but Palin is the right voice, at the right time with a platform.
November shook the old order as to the electoral power of the new pack. No longer a passing fad, the new pack must either be co-opted or it will overwhelm the old order. Palin can claim some measure of the credit. As they square off over the next two years, the rancorous tone will only increase as the remaining betas have a vested interest in the old order and will preserve it all costs. Whether Palin proves electable in a national election remains debatable, but politicians dismissing this new alpha female do so at their peril. If you’re not already a combatant beta, it’s best to take time and examine your behavior and more importantly, determine if you’ve been designated an omega-in-waiting by the old pack order.
