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Speaking in Des Moines on Saturday, former reality television show host and governor of Alaska Sarah Palin declared that the nation's high levels of debt, including money borrowed from China, was "like slavery." But before you get all mad about it, she prefaced her comments by saying "this isn't racist."

The Des Moines Register reported the comments:

The government, like a slick marketer, seductively offers “free” services, said Palin, a conservative provocateur and former vice presidential candidate who makes occasional, high-profile trips to politically-important Iowa.

“Our free stuff today is being paid for by taking money from our children and borrowing from China,” she said at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's fall fundraiser at the State Fairgrounds Saturday night. “When that money comes due — and this isn’t racist, but it’ll be like slavery when that note is due. We are going to beholden to the foreign master.”

It may not be racist, but that's not quite how slavery works. Paying debts is one thing. Being forced into manual labor under the threat of physical harm, having your family torn apart as a means of control, and institutionalizing this system in order to preserve economic benefits is another thing entirely.

Alaska, we'll note, also has a process under which residents get "free" things. The state-owned oil resources return to each resident a certain amount of money each year, under the Alaska Permanent Fund. (This year, everyone gets $900.) The year before Palin was elected governor in 2006, the state received $1.84 from the federal government for each dollar it proved in tax revenue. Alaska's free stuff — Medicare, Social Security, roads — was being paid for by taking money from the rest of the country.

While a Palin speech in Iowa suggests that the former vice presidential candidate might have her eyes on 2016, it's more likely due to her having a book to plug, focused on the so-called "War on Christmas." But those who buy the book get a bonus: "It also, she said, includes a moose chili recipe."

Hat-tip: Political Wire.

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