Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
I There is inherent danger in any long-tenured position of power. Doesn't power corrupt?
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I'm less prone to simple factoids like "power corrupts — absolute poser corrupts absolutely." There are plenty of examples where it is true. It is like the ring of power that compels you — even eats at you such that you can get a smile on your face for retrieving it while you are falling into a sea of lava. But the metaphor is incomplete because it presumed that it was so compelling that no one, not even Frodo, could resist in the end.
I believe that you can find many who are not corrupted by power. They are people who understand the source of what little power they actually have — whether earthly, political, organizational, etc.
So I would phrase it this way: "Power can corrupt. And absolute power can corrupt absolutely. But you can't just presume corruption because you see power." Missing the last point is too often the result of viewing too many things as simple dichotomies when the possibilities are limitless.
But when the source of your power is a problem itself, then the power it wields is almost sure to be a problem as well. A system of deputy authority headed by an oracle of God is begging for abuse. It imbues the practitioner with a presumption of correctness and authority that is not supported by the tenets it claims to administer.