Simple Truth #3
Power does not corrupt; it reveals.
Conventional wisdom tells us that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely
Power does not corrupt character; it reveals it
Fear of consequence is usually the sole barrier to indulging our darkest desires. Power removes that fear, thus liberating our impulses.
What we often attribute to an increase in corruption is really just a loosening of restraints
Most of us are likely familiar with some variation of the saying “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” This originated in a letter written in 1887 by Lord Acton, in which he criticized the notion that people in high positions, such as kings and popes, should not be held to the same moral standard as everyone else.
The larger quote reads:
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority.
— Lord Acton
Noting that a man’s corruption seemed to be proportional to his power, Acton1 concluded that power has a corrupting influence. But is this phenomenon the result of causation or correlation? In other words: does power cause corruption or are the two seemingly conjoined for some other reason?
Power does not corrupt
If we accept the premise that power corrupts (and absolute power corrupts absolutely), then we’d be forced to conclude that God is the most corrupt being in existence because He is the only being with absolute power. But God is not corrupt. In fact, not only is He not corrupt, He is the very antithesis of corruption.
We, however, despite being comparatively powerless, are completely corrupt:
As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
“Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
“Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Since God is all-powerful and without corruption, and we are relatively powerless yet full of corruption, it’s clear that power itself does not cause corruption. Nevertheless, we can’t deny that human beings appear to become more corrupt as they become more powerful. But if power doesn’t corrupt, how do we explain this correlation?
Power reveals
I would contend that power doesn’t corrupt character; it reveals it. This is why God’s power reveals goodness while ours overwhelmingly reveals corruption. Power doesn’t make us something we aren’t; it purges everything we aren’t. Our true nature is exposed when two conditions are satisfied:
We have enough power to make our desires into realities
We have no fear of consequences
Power obviously enables us to do what we want — that’s the nature of power, but it also removes the obstacles that stand in the way of our impulses; primarily, the obstacle of consequence.
Power enables what fear deters
We all have desires we would act on if we weren’t afraid of being held accountable. A lot of banks would be robbed, bosses assaulted, women raped, and men killed. It is the fear of consequence alone that prevents us from acting on these impulses.
Power, however, enables us to distance ourselves from the consequences of our actions. We may not be able to eliminate those consequences, but we can use our influence to conceal them or cause them to impact someone else. And once consequence becomes a distant concern, there’s no barrier to indulgence; we’re no longer afraid to act on our dark impulses, which is precisely why the powerful routinely do so.
So what we often attribute to an increase in corruption is really just a loosening of restraints. Power doesn’t corrupt us, it liberates our existing corruption. Power did not cause anyone to go to Epstein Island, it merely enabled them to do so.
The awful conclusion
We each like to think of ourselves as morally superior to monsters like Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin, and maybe we are. Hopefully we are. But we can’t say that for sure because we’ve not been given the same opportunity as they were to indulge our inner desires. If power were to unshackle our inner beast, God alone knows what we’d be capable of.
It could well be that men like Hitler were not uncommonly evil, they were just uncommonly powerful.
About “Simple Truths”
Many beliefs circulating through society are in some way wrong — logically, morally, and/or factually. Once one of these beliefs gains enough acceptance, it is regarded as a fact and no longer questioned. Other beliefs then build on top of that faulty foundation, and the cycle continues, rapidly metastasizing falsehood throughout the entire culture.
“Simple Truths” is a series designed to push back against commonly-held falsehoods by stating fundamental truths in (what I hope will be) a clear and concise manner. Since many false beliefs share a common flawed premise, my goal is to attack the premises rather than every last wrong-headed assertion. As an added bonus, this process may just uncover some of the flaws in my own thinking, thus making the world a better place (if imperceptibly so).
Lord Acton was John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, but I refer to him merely as “Lord Acton” or “Acton” as this is how he is best known, and because repeatedly using his full name would double the article’s length.