Power Corrupts
Should we all be equal in all ways?Life doesn't function this way, does it? We're all different and in this difference there are strengths and weaknesses. Aptitude and dysfunction.
There is a saying that power corrupts. If this is true, which power corrupts most significantly? Which should we be concerned about? Which should we possibly seek for ourselves?
1. Political power. Authority and the power of law.
2. Corporate power. The power of money.
This discussion brings in the idea of whether society is best served through government run projects or through projects we hire private companies to run. Knowing the problems with each option, which would you favor?
Which is the "lesser-evil"? More government-operated projects or more corporate-operated projects?
(this is part 1 ... 'personal power' is coming next
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Comments (23)
Lol
Richard why don't you explain us the pro's and con's of government vs private firms power here? The way u see it.
Rich
Tough choices
Here in my country all are corrupt, starting form down to the simple person who have a simple job to up on the politicians and guverment.
We all need of more produced people of honesty,loyality, people of conscience to rule the corporation or a Government correctly.
Every idea, every living truth get its progress:
-Mock,indifference,amaze
-Fight and persecution
-Admit of all
It is born in the spirit of the most sensitive,profound hearts.
The strength is on the side of the truth and LIGHT, not on the side of ignorance and darkness.Fools suffer of prejudices,greed..Simplicity has reached from truth finders.
Uhm, it seemed that political power here takes control of all of these; authority, power of law, and power of money
I've been looking on eBay myself... might even find something already framed!
People and their egos and their thirst for power...
> In government... if you're one of the people who make and enforce laws, you have some control over your fellow citizens ... they might even feel they need to be nice to you! ... Doesn't it feel good to be the boss?
> In business... If you're in charge of the money at your corporation... if you decide where the new plant gets built... you have power. Towns will seek you out to boost their economy... provide jobs...
Some people want to be in government because they want to be respected, listened to... to have power over others.
Some want to be in charge of corporations for similar reasons.
Which authority figure bothers you the most? Which do you fear?
The government bureaucrat or politician who decides where you're allowed to build your home?
The corporation who decides whether your town prospers or not?
(car trouble today... I'll be back from the shop in a bit... that's what inspired this blog
As the saying goes, "Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely".
The lesser of 2 evils is still EVIL.
In today's world, Political Power is in bed with Corporate Power.
To choose one is to choose the other, it's a package deal. Two for the price of one?
In our Republic, I believe Federal Government needs to shrink drastically in size, returning power back to the individual States where local people have a closer relationship with Representatives and are more apt to hold them accountable.
Each State should govern according to what the people who live in the State want and vote for. The Power needs to be returned to the People and Representatives need to listen to the People and do what they are elected to do... represent the People!
Large Corporations who lobby in Washington pad the pockets of Representatives to get legislation passed in their favor. Many Politicians are on the take, disregarding how their constituients have asked them to vote.
Really, the Corporations are greedy for your dollar, they care nothing for you or your government! They care for more sales and less taxes in most cases. Don't even get me started on Big Pharma and the Medical field! Grrrrrrrr!
Good blog!
HL
Come to my country, to see how admirable cooperate corrupt-government-to-corrupters corporations.see3 the billions of euros politicians got from great european and american corporations to buy their products .ha ha
give us a patriot dictator NOW
Okay ... car is in the shop ... still in the shop. A problem with the "Evap" system. The car runs fine but its computer isn't happy and New York requires annual inspection (due in May for me) and it won't pass inspection if the car computer isn't happy with the "evap" system.
First - It's an environment thing. Probably a good idea. Keeps old cars from polluting more than necessary (evap has something to do with controlling gas fumes and/or exhaust).
But - some politician decided that my car needed to be grounded until this thing is figured out.
It makes sense... I don't mind too much... just more evidence of government control though... can't just build a car to work well, also need lots of additional sensors for a non-essential "evap" system... because the government here requires it.
But it got me thinking about this...
With one party in charge, do you feel like they are looking after your country well?
There's a school of thought... that all issues should have a debate... air out all the good and the bad... if one side of the argument is weak, that might just show you what the right decision is.
The thinking by some here (2 major political parties and several rather small ones) is that our 2 major parties work this debate well... everything one party is for, the other is against... so it all gets put out in the open... the good arguments and the lame ones... they all come out. It can make it dysfunctional in some ways but no one group gets to come up with an idea and vote it in without having anyone point out the flaws.
Your one party... perhaps they are good enough to keep themselves in check... and I don't think this is better or worse necessarily ... just something to watch and be careful about ... if (un-elected) party leaders start setting government priorities... that would worry me a bit.
Challenging, isn't it?
I feel like I'm giving a sort of lecture here... speaking too much myself... not good blog hosting.
This is a topic I think about ... and it's election season for too much of the year over here... way too much coverage on the news of political campaigns...
Lachica - I agree ... and government creates more government some times ... new committees and authorities get created ... all for good reasons ... all require more staffing and more money ... and the government continues growing and growing...
There was a time here when working for the government was a low-paying job. If you go back 50 years or more in the US ... government employees had few benefits and smaller paychecks than those working for private companies. Along the way, this turned around... government makes its own budget... so hires people and determines salaries... and when funds go down, instead of cutting staff (which is now difficult because the government employees are "protected" by their unions (protected from themselves?
The "job for life" ... "get promoted based on how long you've been there rather than how well you do your work" ... this outlook isn't good... we have it here too (as you can tell) ...
Overall, our layers of government are filled with honest people... but there are weaknesses in design that seem to only be getting weaker... it worries me.
Blue - Government and corporate help/guidance ... working together ... doesn't really lead to a good place it seems.
A patriot dictator... an interesting alternative.
It seems like the thoughts from HL (above) might apply ... basically that the government wasn't being run by the citizens... that those in government listened to non-citizens (corporations) too much... and greed factored in as well...
A muddled mess...
(Feel free to correct me if my understanding is off-target.)
Lazly - Lawyers ... when "the system" rewards greed more than justice ... ugh.
And i guess that is also why ppl dont rally to make the opposition strong kinda. Dunno really, but we are so rich that we kinda dont care so much as long as its relatively ok... so to speak. All history also show here that the politics don't vary so much nomather who is in position.
U see we have one right wing party here, but noone wanna cooperate with them (be assosiated with them) as thay are viewed to be abit "far out" lol.
but thay are the only protest party. So there we go.
No oppositon.
Yea, that must be it: we have it ok so we dont mind who's in carge it seems.
Btw, the crazy guy A.B.Brevik was having his shootout at this ruling labour party's youth camp. Could this have been avoided if the opposition was stronger? Probably not. Cos he was crazy anyway, u know.
Problem with the way it is now is that the dabate is not really working, so i wish the "almost" right wing party would cooperate proporly with the right wing one and we would have a block who could question what is going on and put force behind it also in the real politics.
Interesting... It feels like it's always been the way it is here so I'm intrigued about how it has been working in Norway.
The small parties here... I think they do some good in making sure the 2 big parties remember to get something done in-between their arguments with each other. I wish they had a bit more leverage (the smart people stand out more in these smaller organizations).
I try to remember though... when nothing is getting done in Washington (when they are spending all their time complaining about each other
So i will vote for political power being the worse of the two evils.
Very interesting topic,too bad i have no time to comment,i only can say that MOST laws are not made to be obvious therefore,some people can stretch it whenever they want .So you will see a lot of people been victim in some way or another ,Yes power is corrupt,specially when you have bad,egoistic people using that law for their on benefit .
Ehm, the condition about people working in government departments that you described on your comment has been happening here
Anyway, I don't mind and I don't oppose them to work in government institutions or bodies as long as they can be fair and honest while they are doing their works or even running on projects.
Nice blog, Rich, I hope your car will get properly fixed soon
The car is back in the garage tonight.
It turns out that there is a canister of charcoal that absorbs excess gas fumes and releases them when the engine is running. So it's a safety device when adding fuel and also an environmental device in containing some of the fuel vapor and allowing it to be burned by the engine as intended.
So that was the current repair... and now I need to wait... drive the car a few days... hopeful that the computer is now happy... and have it tested again...
So government work ... Yes, I wish the government employees here and there the best! It's important to have the business of government attended to, but I sort-of don't want to give them reasons to hire more people.
(Personal Power - coming up... in about 12 hrs)