Everybody, in one way or the other, has got this internal urge to be powerful; to be able to exercise some levels of authority. Let us take an example of a student going to school. Any focused student will always want to achieve excellence in all their fields of endeavor. Their quest for excellence is not just intrinsic; all they want is to be better than others. John Emerich, in 1887 observed the rule of absolute monarchy. The monarchical king or queen had almost absolute power over the subject. They would wake up in the morning and just decide that an individual should be persecuted. They had the power to take your property or your wife without questioning. John Emerich then observed this behaviour and concluded that what made those monarchical queens and king so oppressive was because of the absolute powers they were accorded with (Cali 6). This paper therefore seeks to explore the application of John Emerich’s proponent in the contemporary world.
When an individual gets an opportunity to possess power, they tend to use it in a selfish manner. Even for those who intended to use it a selfless manner tend to succumb to corruption by external forces (Cali 18). There have been instances where leaders of some nations fraudulently pull funds from the countries that they lead and use them for personal purposes. The main reason here is that they have an absolute access to the funds and therefore cannot resist the strong urge to use the moneys. Emerich believes that every individual is born corrupt. However, what makes them to practice corruption is the environment where they found themselves in. when an individual finds himself in a position where he can easily practice corruption, they will seize that opportunity.
In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini the then new leader of Iran resolved within himself and his insiders to take actions which will purify Islam end expel away any bad outside forces. Many people believed in him, and the western expert who dealt in Iran affairs thought that, at long last, he will create democracy in Iran. The moment power started growing in him, he stated to act in in a manner that contradicts his own manifestos. Working among corrupt people, and having all the powers to do anything he wanted, Khomeini started to succumb to corruption. He took Iran back to aristocratic eras and banished political parties. The power that he possessed made him to be very arrogant. One year into his reign, Saddam Hussein formed a liberation party which fought to oust the aristocratic government (Cali 57).
One who has power can lose the meaning of right and wrong so that the issue of morals ceases to matter to them. Without any influential authority, many people are always noble and simple. The moment they get power, even those patriots who were ready to die for their countries will always change into beasts. When they get the authority, they start to conquer and capture other territories. They kill children and rape women and even torch their houses. For example, Mao and Stalin were great patriots by the time they were still political activists. They made painful sacrifices for the benefit of their countries. They managed to earn trust of the public and as a result they were elected as the leaders of Sino-Soviet. The moment they gained the powers, they started to rule ruthlessly. They eliminated their opponents and eventually started to fight against each other. They become the greatest enemies because of the quest for more power. As a result, Stalin and Mao led to the split of the Sino-Soviet (Tufte 58).
Power is such an influential rot that penetrates even to saints and sages. The truth is that they acquire power after long years of anticipations and self-denial (Tufte 58). The moment they acquire power, they start to replenish their urge for money and more power. They use their political influence to arrange deals which will result to millions of Dollars into their pockets. They create political bureaucracy which gives them the opportunity to embezzle more funds for their personal benefits.
Another reason why power corrupts is that the need for power is infinite. The moment an individual obtains power; their first step is to ensure security in power so that they don’t lose such powerful positions. The next step is to fight for more power. In their quest to expand their territory and power, they use oppressive and inhuman means. They end up killing their opponents or sending them to asylum. They create laws that enable them to stay in power forever. For example, Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe has been in power for more than 35 years. Every election term, he passes a legislation which allows him to vie again. Throughout his 35 tyrannical years of reign, Mugabe has made his country one of the poorest in Africa (Tufte 58). The inflation has gone out of hand with 1 US Dollar equivalent to 362 Zimbabwe Dollars. The Zimbabweans are languishing in poverty and starvation.
Recently, a massive scandal has come in light in India. The Hawala scandal gives the picture of how governments and top politicians can use their powers to execute acts of immorality and dishonesty for their personal gain. The Central Bureau of Investigation discovered how the former minister and the leader of opposition used their powers to to embezzle millions of Rupee from a capitalist buy the name S. K. Jain. Were it that these politicians had no powers, they could have not influenced the actions and omissions that lead to loss of these millions of rupee.
Power does not mean than one has to be a political leader or very influential person, even small powers can influence an individual to be corrupt and oppressive. Petty government officers such as teachers and police officers have, in many cases, used the little power they have to oppress and corrupt their students or clients. These petty officers only become dishonest when they acquire some promotions that place them in levels of authority or control of money. Corruptions start the moment they start receiving gifts which seem innocent from the clients. As time passes by, they develop the urge to get more gifts. They start creating bureaucratic chains to prompt their clients to remove gifts for favour. One should assume that noble professions such as teaching should not have any form of corruption. This however is not true. We have witnessed instances where teachers are corrupted by gifts so that they can influence the grades of students.
For a true democracy to be achieved, leaders, businessmen, corporations and other influential individuals should be restricted on the amount of power they possess. There should be strong public opinions and political activists which will lobby against misuse of power. The role of median in combating corruption cannot be gainsaid. Media should take it as their duty to expose corrupt official in an attempt to cub corruption. Another important aspect is a strong judicial system. The judiciary should have the powers to bring into justice corrupt leaders regardless of their powers. Such leaders should be prosecuted and punished accordingly. Finally, the education system also plays role in combating the misuse of power. The system should be oriented in a way that fosters honesty and sympathy and discourages authoritative beaviours that can lead to misses of power.
Works Sited
Cali, Jim. "Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely." Bribery and Corruption Casebook: The View From Under the Table (2012): 287-297. Web. 31 March 2016.
Tufte, Edward R. "Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely." Wired, September 1 (2003): 18-19. Web. 31 March 2016.
