The Balance of Power

A statement was made by Lord Acton, a British historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which has perhaps become part of our mindset.

Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.

This is an observation that a person’s sense of morality lessens as his or her power increases.

I would like to propose a new statement, which pertains to the social and political environments in which we live.

Power tends to corrupt; corruption empowers .

It is my belief that this world is ruled by an elite group who use corruption with whoever and whatever they can in order to impose their ideas on society and reach their goals. Furthermore I feel that this corruption enables them to gain power and the cycle of , corruption begets power begets corruption, continues.

We have perhaps all had insights into the "I've have been had over" feeling. It may have been in the arena of politics where we felt that we were being manipulated in some way by some "unseen power" or perhaps socially where we have forced to take some action that has not been "becoming" to our dignity or view of life.

Think carefully about situations where you feel that you personally have been taken advantage of or where a group to which you belong has been manouevred or manipulated into an uncomfortable position.

Abuse of Power

Power can be viewed as a commodity.If you have it you can use it if you don't you can't. It follows therefore that the abuse of power is only possible to those who have been empowered or taken it by force.

It's a simple fact that power can only be abused by those who have power.When we examine the political arena we find various types of State Power in existence. These range through liberal-democratic, social-democratic, liberal, authoritarian, etatist, and ideological systems. In my opinion they all have one aspect in common; the manipulation of the majority utilising power, which appears to equate to corruption.

If we look at what are termed " Democratic Systems it may appear in the short term that those in positions of power will acquiesce to the majority view, giving in to public opinion or any vehicle with differing views but the overall movement will always be forward towards their goals and objectives.Short term losses are accepted to gain the longer term advance of their objectives.

Sometimes these "Democratic Systems" not only acknowledge their faults but they offer some kind of "power sharing" in order to consolidate their own power base. Examples could be in community consultation or group exploration. Groups of people are consulted in a gesture to include them in decision making processes with promises of action to be taken. These consultations may take many forms and the only similarity of their forms is that they reach conclusions and take actions which will in the main benefit the objectives of the system and not the aggrieved parties.

Power has corrupted and now corruption empowers and we, the vast majority, find that control of the entire government and political system is taken over by the powerful and corrupt minority.

We now live in a world we are told by one of the most powerful political men in the world

"If you are not with us you are against us"

despite the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and formal recognition by the laws of most nations including The United States with the first ammendment in The Bill of Rights.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
to be continued/