The Power Of Power

"Power tends to corrupt," said Sir John Dalberg-Acton, "and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Power is an addictive force that some people simply cannot resist. They are drawn to it without resistance, like iron filings to a magnet. Once addicted they spend excessive amounts of time and money in a continuing attempt to get closer to the center of that power, the heart of the magnet.

For some it is a struggle. If they have religious or ethical scruples they may try to hold them up as a shield against addiction, but sooner or later the tug of that magnet will be just too strong.

Others try to limit their involvement. "I'll just go along a bit to see what it's like," they say, or "I'll only run for one term." But the magnet's power doesn't allow limits. 

Power, especially political power, is a pernicious disease that has no cure, and those who become addicted are doomed to a lifetime of fear, always watching their words and looking over their shoulders to be sure there is no threat of losing the thing they value most: Power. If they put any value on their soul it is in second place.

The reason the Great Pretender's minions are stuck to him like limpets and cannot let go is that he holds the key to their existence: their power, or access to it. In Washington, that is an existential matter. The closer one is to the center of power, the more powerful one is perceived to be. Getting kicked out to a more distant orbit is a disaster and an embarrassment. 

Most of them don't respect the man. They worship the power they perceive him to hold.

The fascistic Trump holds over his followers' heads the threat of removal from himself. These people have not only lost their direction; they have also lost track of their sworn purpose: to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; [and to] bear true faith and allegiance to the same.

In the government of the United States no person or office is more potent or important than the Constitution. It is the rock on which all things are established. Yet the addiction to temporary power and the concomitant fear of losing it has caused too many officials to lose sight of the only entity to which they own allegiance.

They need to pick up that Bible their boss had the insolence to hold up in front of St. John's church and turn to Matthew 6:24. You know the one. It begins, "No man can serve two masters."


--- Diogenes, 6/6/2020