Well, I don't think Sarah Palin or any other single person like her can wrench that power away, Ake. I really don't. I believe that anyone who genuinely tried to do that and had the ghost of a chance of succeeding...would not be allowed to continue. They would either be destroyed professionally (by the power of the mass media and their colleagues in government) or disposed of in a more covert and violent fashion.

I think Sarah Palin, if elected, would either cooperate willingly with the system as it is or be destroyed by it.

There are only 2 things that can bring down the "ship of state" that is a great imperial power.

1. a major and decisive defeat in a major war with another great power (as happened to both Germany and Japan in the '40s).

2. a revolution

In the case of example 2, the revolution, that will not occur until the general mass of the ordinary people become so desperate under bad economic conditions and their masters become so confused, impotent, weak, and incompetent that things fall apart and the public takes up arms and sweeps away the ruling system. That happened in the case of the French and Russian revolutions.

I don't see that happening at this time in North America. Things aren't nearly that bad yet for the general public. They're bad...but they're not that bad.

Hate figures, by the way, are a standard political tactic used to polarize people and get them onside to back some aggressive agenda or oppose some other agenda. In recent times we have seen those hate figure tactics used against Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, George Bush, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, Iran's Ahmadinejad, Saddam Hussein, and a variety of other famous people.

Single, complex individuals are thus turned into one-dimensional demonic figures of evil in many people's minds...not because they are one-dimensional demonic figures of evil...but merely because it's very handy for someone's political purposes to use ONE SINGLE person as a focal point for all the inarticulate frustration, fear, and rage that's out there. I'd call it "Dick and Jane" level politics. It's damn silly, but it's the standard propaganda technique used to harness the political anger in people. Find a reconizable "face" for them to attach it all to. Osama Bin Laden was another such recognizable face.

That's the primary purpose Mrs. Palin serves at the present time on this particular forum. She's just the most convenient symbol of what most people here hate and despise....thus she is very handy indeed, specially for jokes, and she would be missed sorely if she decided to retire from public life. George Bush used to serve the same purpose Sarah now serves on this forum spectacularly well, but he's obsolete now, so someone had to step in and assume the role.

And who best serves that role for the Republicans? (Aside from Al Gore, I mean...heh!) Barack Obama is their number 1 choice for "beast of the hour". ;-) Same tactic, different agenda. When he's not in power anymore, they'll find another such bogeyman to bellyache about all the livelong day.