Like anything else, Alaska runs the gamut. We have our internal faults; just two days ago I left the city of Anchorage, where we have lots of amenities and liberals, and drove to the bedroom community of Wasilla. We have an image of the politics of the people up there as being far right of ours, but when we were talking to the people who sold us the dog, the husband and wife, pretty young with two very young kids, told us that the kids were vaccinated, the husband had had Covid. They were well informed about the same things we felt we were informed of.

We are in a 'special' space due to the carbon economy, and our awareness is informed by the importance of the tourist economy.

There are big changes on the horizon and there is going to be change and some pain. But there is a practical essence to the folks; I've dealt with many many public employees in the past and have typically found them to be highly committed to doing their jobs intelligently and well. That doesn't mean I agree with em; it does mean I respected them.

And there is plenty of diversity. We have significant API presence, particularly Korean, Philippino, Samoans. I once got stopped in traffic by a cop from Finland. I know two young Alaskans doing Japanese immersion classes. We have a large MLK Boulevard and right now there is considerable attention in the media of Black Alaskan stories and this is now getting coupled with continuing revision of the indigenous experience. We have considerable indigenous presence and experience which is unique to Alaska. Much of it is positive, by which I mean not just a string of grievance stories.

And we have English links. We take our name from a visit by Captain Cook and I think we still have a statue of him downtown that is from the same cast as one in Victoria B.C. I oughta check to see if it hasn't been cancelled in some way...

In my last job most of the folks I worked with were hard right wingers, but they were pleasant to work with. I remember being in a work meeting two Presidential administrations ago where someone mentioned his concern around U.S. southern border issues and the guy right next to him said: "I don't think there should be ANY borders!"

And with all I've said, we have an extremely high gun ownership situation here, and our share of outrageous gun incidents. I do not know how we compare to the lower 48. I am personally more afraid of ME owning a gun hence I abstain. Those kids immersed in Japanese... They are biathloners of some local standing.

Sarah Palin can't see Russia from her house anymore. She left the State some time ago.