Scalia, in a 1995 decision on the separation of powers, made the same mistake as Palin. Two readers, on other hand, disagree with the standard interpretation of the poem. One writes:
In my opinion, Frost doesn't actually choose a side between his two characters.It is true that the narrator feels "something there is that doesn't love a wall," and tries to convince his neighbor that they are not necessary. But the narrator is not Frost himself. He appears to be a whimsical man, who likes to tease that his apple trees will not eat the neighbor's pine cones, and wants to enter into jokes about elves. The neighbor is plainspoken and stolid, and only responds, "good fences make good neighbors." But his obstinacy could easily be due to finding the narrator irritating. Frost is talking about boundaries and how different people have different tolerances for them. I'm not out to set up Palin as a literary expert, but she is adopting a perfectly valid side of the argument.
The other writes:
You and Palin both have Frost wrong. It is the act of repairing the wall that forces the neighbors to work together each year. It is this communal act of repairing the barrier that seperates them, that forces the human interaction, thus making them better neighbors. Frost doesn't like walls, but jointly maintaining the wall is its own benefit. Thus, "Good fences" (those that are kept in good order) make good neighbors" (neighbors who communicate, work together, etc. on a regular basis).
If the Palins and their new neighbors worked together to build a privacy fence, the communal act of building would make them better neighbors, according to Frost. And it would also give the reporter a perfect opportunity to make small talk ("So, tell me about your kids ... ")
I think I'll forget Palin and focus on Frost. Thanks to @PoetryFound (and Andrew Sullivan) for bringing a good poem back into focus for me.