Monday, August 28, 2017
The Corruption of Power
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power
corrupts absolutely”—Lord Acton
This is
probably one of the most–invoked, and least understood lines in literature.
Acton truly believed that power corrupts, but his more important point is that
power also corrupts those who are enamored of the powerful.
The quote
occurs in a letter Acton wrote to Anglican bishop Mandell Creighton. Creighton
had asked Acton to review a history book he was writing, in which he was
sympathetic to certain rulers, most of whom were corrupt. Acton wrote in
response…
I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge the King
unlike other men, with a favorable presumption that they did no wrong. If there
is any presumption it is the other way, against the holders of power,
increasing as the power increases. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely…
There is no
worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it. Here are the
greatest names coupled with the greatest crimes; you would spare those
criminals, for some mysterious reason. I would hang them higher than Haman, for
reasons of quite obvious justice… The inflexible integrity of the moral code
is, to me, the secret of authority. If we debase the currency for the sake of
genius, or success, or rank, or reputation… we serve the worst cause rather
than the purest.
It is beyond
absurd to say that what one believes about good and evil has nothing whatever
to do with his or her actions. Character matters. Therefore, we can and must
hold kings, politicians, pastors, priests, presidents and all others in
positions of authority to what Acton called “the inflexible integrity of the
moral code.”
I think of
certain athletes whose off–field behavior is reprehensible, yet they get a pass
because they “get it done” on the field of play.
And I think
of certain celebrities and politicians whose personal lives are fetid and yet
they likewise are excused because they “get it done” in their field of
endeavor.
In both
cases it is those who approve them that are corrupted—absolutely.
David Roper
E-musings
are archived at http://davidroper.blogspot.com
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