Here's a thought

Its 207 days since the state of disaster was declared in South Africa, the world is still not harmonious, Covid’s still with us and the abusers of power have not taken their foot off the pedal one little bit. We’ve all grown up believing that power corrupts and total power corrupts totally. Have you ever really thought about that? Well it seems like an easy statement to agree with when we consider both history and current affairs. We do see many powerful people abusing their power. Hmm, well! I read a quote this morning that put this into perspective. It is not power that corrupts. That’s a cop-out. That simply disempowers humankind by implying that power is this evil, living thing and it corrupts. This gives power a life. In this context power is like a poisonous snake whose bite festers and that suppurating wound is called power. We know that is not true, is it? The truth is that power attracts the abusive and the corruptible.  That sounds better, doesn’t it? Other, service driven humans, see power as enhancing their ability to serve. Think of many great philanthropists around the world. They have power and use it positively. Here’s the quote:

"It's said that 'power corrupts', but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable."
David Brin, scientist and science fiction author (b 6 Oct 1950)

I feel slightly silly that this penny only dropped today for me. I have for many years defended money and consequently wealth (even excessive wealth, whatever that means) with the same defense I have provided for power. Money also gets a bad rap when its humankind that uses or abuses money. Many people opposed to the free market or capitalism blame these for the inequality in the world today. Not true. This argument completely ignores that humans behavior is actually the issue, not money and wealth. Well power is the same. The more socialist, anti-wealth and power lobby tell us that all wealth and power should be vested centrally and then we’ll be ok. Yeah right.

That has consistently proven to be the kiss of death. Just think of societies where all power is centralized. Money and power are still ever present. Also still present is abuse of power and mostly this is right in heart of the cluster trusted with serving the people. Its some humans that behave badly, that abuse power and cause the pain and suffering.

The solution is simple. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to implement though. The solution, I believe is that:

·       We need to recognize that conflict among people is universal.

·       People are dynamic.

·       We must never trust leaders.

The result is that we put systems in place to hold leaders to account. Democracy, a free press and the South African Constitution are examples of mechanisms specifically designed or created for this purpose. None of these prevent corruption or the abuse of power but all are mechanisms to hold powerful people to account. Imagine if we, South Africans, were living without the protective mechanisms we have. State corruption would never be checked. A revolution is the only mechanism we would have.