Governor Palin has five children, including a baby with Down syndrome and an unmarried teenage daughter who is pregnant. The news commentators are now abuzz with the topic of whether it is proper for her to seek national office at the the potential expense of caring for her family. It shouldn’t be an issue.

Compare Palin’s situation to soldiers volunteering for service. Nearly all soldiers who volunteer for military service place some hardship upon their families in doing so. The hardship is substantially more for soldiers, who face long periods of separation, financial hardship, and risk of death in the line of duty, than for Vice Presidents, who get free rent and car service. Soldiers chose to serve for various reasons, but many place a high value on their families, but a very high value on their service. Their families generally understand that.

The same applies to Palin. She and her family are the ones who gets to make that value judgment. In my view, it is not difficult to see why she would place such an extraordinary value on serving the nation as vice president. Many people, perhaps a majority of working people, make similar hard choices and end up pursuing careers at some sacrifice to family life. They might believe that the family will benefit more from their earning extra income, or they might believe that their career is a significant activity that merits some priority in its own right. Families are not abandoned or ignored, they are balanced with work.

The potential disadvantage to Palin’s family is minor compared to that of many soldiers who leave young children to go to war, or even compared to households where both parents must work to make ends meet. Being VP is a well-paying job, and beyond that, is there no doubt that she will get whatever support she needs from well-wishers. She won’t have to go home to shovel snow off the walkway.

She has a capable and family-minded husband who is able to manage family problems. Compare that to single mothers who must both work and take care of a family on their own. Overall, Palin’s task of juggling responsibilities is easy compared to that of many million’s of typical Americans. Palin has the additional advantage of not being a typical person. She is a person of proven extraordinary ability.

Palin’s family responsibilities should not be an issue.