The Uses of Power
Power in human relationship, what IS this thing? We hear phrases like "speak truth to power," and "the rich and powerful," and "an abuse of power." Such phrases show an attitude of fear, subservience, enmity, moral superiority. Power, it would seem, is by nature a force with great destructive potential, and inherently bad, morally speaking. "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely." I can think of no better synopsis of the Ring in Tolkien's famous stories, in which the best choice was NOT to use that power, but rather to destroy it. As a born-and-bred American, I completely resonate to this view of power: "Government is best which governs least," that blessed Jeffersonian maxim! But as I have aged and observed a wider variety of power sources, I have seen a strange paradox. A power vacuum, or a FAILURE to exercise legitimate power, is at least as destructive as an abuse of power. What does THAT say about those ...