Sarah Palin released her memoir entitled “Going Rouge: An American Life” last month. Written in four months, it includes her accounts of the presidential campaign and reasons the Democrats are ruining the country.

According to the book’s publisher, HarperCollins, the book sold more than 700,000 copies in its first week.

Palin’s ascension in the political arena and her continued popularity reflect how unimportant genuine qualifications are to a large portion of Americans.

Republicans chose her as the vice presidential candidate for the 2008 election. An unqualified politician like Palin should not garner so much political clout.

Some even want her to run for president in 2012. However, voters need to examine candidates less superficially.

It seems Palin’s hard-line conservatism was the only credential needed to accrue a large number of supporters.

In November 2006, when asked if she’d want an abortion for her daughter if she were raped and became pregnant, Palin said, “I would choose life.”

During her speech at the Republican convention, she quoted an anonymous writer when she said, “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity.”

In her attempt to exaggerate her cultural connection with potential voters, she actually quoted Westbrook Pegler, a right-wing columnist who was an avowed racist and anti-Semite, who wished for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, according to the Huffington Post.

While she fervently celebrates and defends conservative values, her lack of even a basic understanding of the complexities of U.S. government should compel all responsible voters to reject her should she run for political office again.

While on the campaign trail in Colorado, a third-grader named Brandon asked Palin what the vice president does.

Her answer was troubling.

“(They’re) in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom,” she said.

The Constitution states that the vice president only has a vote when the Senate is “equally divided.” His or her role as leader is merely for ceremonial occasions.

Palin only has a bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor in political science from the University of Idaho. Her educational level did not seem concerning to supporters during the campaign.

John McCain graduated from the prestigious Naval Academy. President Barack Obama was an undergraduate at Columbia University and magna cum laude graduate from Harvard Law School. Joe Biden went to the University of Delaware and received a law degree from Syracuse University.

It is troubling that some American voters are still willing to put the country in the hands of an unqualified person like Palin. Americans should not give her another shot in any future elections, and they must learn to reject unqualified candidates.

Justin Rivera is a senior majoring in history.