If you haven’t been watching the news this morning you might not know that former Prime Minister of Pakistan and until today the current major challenger to President General Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto, was murdered in a suicide bombing of a rally. It is an assassination that has rocked Pakistan and could cause further instability in the region.

The tragic event is a reminder on the eve of our election. A reminder of several things. First that as difficult and bloody as the move toward democracy in the developing world is in comparison to the relative stability in our own country, we shouldn’t forget that our own fight for liberty was not without bloodshed and the threat of tyranny and treason. The American Revolution was paid for with the blood of many people and it has unfortunately been upheld that way.

Second, that our American system is a wonderful and vibrant one in which the masses do not resort to the destruction of the rule of law simply for political gain. We peacefully exchange power and hold free elections. In a weeks time the splendor of our system will be on full display in Iowa and then New Hampshire and it will continue on through November. We too have faced assassination’s and we did so without the destruction of liberty and justice and without forsaking the rule of law.

Finally it is a reminder of the harsh realities and the difficult choices facing our nation’s next commander-in-chief and head of state. The next president will oversea a world that is crumbling in the area of personal liberty and freedom of choice while it is at the same time giving birth to amazing new technology and philosophy. Our world is a complex and wonderful place with few easy answers, unfortunate horror and many possible directions on which we may travel.

Now is the opportunity to elect a leader who will see us through these difficult times, who will maintain our liberty and justice in the face of great strife and build bridges to a better and lasting future.