A Modern Day Akhenaten
Twenty-four centuries ago, there ruled a king in Egypt who broke with tradition and tried to establish a new way of thinking about man and his gods. Akhenaten, then Amenhotep IV, decided that the pantheon of Egyptian gods needed to be changed to a more monotheistic religious view. He tried to create a culture where the many gods were replaced by one god. In the end, he failed. His successors, namely the established priesthood whose livelihood depended on the worship of many gods, re-asserted its power. Akhenaten's name was stricken from the records and all that he tried to create was destroyed. We are going through such a period now. Barack Obama is like a modern day Akhenaten. He struggled to bring forth ideas of equality and fairness that flew in the face of the established power elite. But his ideas were destined to fly in the face of the rich and powerful, and as they did twenty-four centuries ago, they have regained their power and overthrew the man who would usher in a n