political assassins

the political arena impacts our daily lives to such a great extent, although ironically politics is one of those "taboo" topics in the social sphere. I always hear people say "never talk about politics or religion" especially when drinking! I generally do just the opposite, because these topics are of the utmost importance to our existence. At our family Christmas dinner (an alcohol-free event) the topic of politics did indeed come up. When it did, i vocalized my thoughts on some of the US Presidential candidates, as I often do, promoting in particular a few of the Republican front-runners. Someone had mentioned about doing their taxes or what they would do with the extra money when they get their tax returns, which got me started on Mike Huckabee and his plans to abolish the IRS. There are always a few in the bunch who do not keep up with the issues, so I proceeded to explain Huckabee's plans to phase out the federal income tax on wages and replace it with the fair tax on consumer purchases. I explained in common-sense terms how this would allow for the illegal workers and people getting paid under-the-table such as drug dealers, who would normally not pay taxes on their income to be taxed the same as everyone else. My mom interjected, "that sounds great but that would never happen. He would get assassinated first." I thought, what a horrible thing to say! I was appalled, but it definitely got me thinking about all the various scenarios for replacement government. Somehow the Democrats need to be in office in order for the North American Union (or as I call it, Camerico) to be implemented as an important facet of the one-world government.

Just last night, an actual presidential assassination did occur, at an election rally in Pakistan. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was shot at by a suicide bomber, who then blew himself up killing about 20 other people nearby as well. There had been an earlier unsuccessful attempt at assassinating Bhutto a few months ago, when she was traveling with her convoy in returning to Pakistan after being in exile. Bhutto is well-loved by many of the Pakistani people, yet the idea of a woman in power completely defies the guidelines of Islamic law. Thus the large Muslim population in Pakistan definitely has some bearing on the opposing - and in this case extremist - uprising against her. President Pervez Musharraf held an emergency meeting in the hours after her death, and said he believed the killers were "the same extremists that Pakistan is fighting a war against." Coincidentally, Bhutto is Musharraf's major political opponent in the next election though the two seem to both be together in fighting extremism.

While revolutionary political leaders continue to make their mark on history, there are always those revolting radicals who do not want to see positive political change. One could theorize that in the same way Mike Huckabee poses a threat to the commonplace with his idealistic utopian expectations for our country, revolutionary ideologies such as those of Ron Paul or Barack Obama would also provide a political target for extremists if either were to be elected. Thinking back to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (a thought inspired by my recent viewing of the film National Treasure), examples of people displeased by remarkable leaders can be found throughout history. It seems like any leader or ideology that threatens freedom - anything contrary to life as we/they know it, or exposes greed or corruption - is a target for those who embrace hatred and destruction. If one person's voice can make a difference in the world as we have seen throughout history, then one person's gunshot, suicide blast, or threats of national destruction can also have the same type of effect though horrific in nature. Bhutto's death should be seen as a wake-up call to the Middle East, but for world politics in general - are we headed to a global uprising leading to a necessary embrace of one-world government? Peace in the Middle East is definitely on the back-burner as the flames rise in controversy.