Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. (Lord Acton)
This is an amazing quote, when you think about it. Only seven words long, three of them repeated in slightly different forms. Brief and elegant in its use of language, it is a one-liner that most people have heard, and certainly almost everyone on DailyKos.
But it's more amazing than that. In seven short words it captures an important essence of the human condition. It's demonstrably true, or else it would be nothing more than clever wordplay and would have faded from our consciousness long ago.
Recently there was a diary on DailyKos titled They Were Soldiers Once (
http://www.dailykos.com/...) which I enthusiatically encourage you to read. The writer eloquently states that we are putting an almost undendurable burden on the soldiers in Iraq, who are, after all, simply humans and not angels. They are being shattered by their experiences, not just physically but mentally.
In the comments I had the following exchange with jeffinalabama:
Stanley Milgram,,, conditioning
Most folks don't remember Milgram's experiments in the late 50's, in which he had an authority figure tell people to administer 'electric shocks' to people durning an experiment. His study was unethical, but the findings are still frightening to me.
People will follow orders and put others at risk if told to do so by authority. Everyone? No. However, we members of society have been conditioned to obey authority.
...
I responded:
Another Study
Don't know if it was Milgram. But the subjects were divided into 2 groups, the 'prisoners' and the 'guards'. They all knew they were part of an experiment. Yet, after a while the 'guards' started to do all sorts of crazy crap. Needless to say they all started wearing mirrorshades. Only a very few of the guards said screw this, this is just wrong, and got out of the experiment. Another psychologist saw the experiment and immediately called for it to end. It just went nuts.
Power corrupts. This administration is proof of that again, if proof is necessary.
jeffinalabama kindly informed me that this was a study by Zimbardo, which I didn't know. I do remember that when I watched a TV show about the study I was angry. I was dumbfounded by the morons that, knowing that they were participating in a mere study, still went completely berserk and started abusing the 'prisoners', to the point that the study went out of control and had to be stopped. WTF? Are you kidding me? It's a frackin' study you jerks! How can you be behaving like that?
But, at the same time, I had a bit of hope and pride. The fact is, several people saw through the exercise and refused to participate. Some people, not many, had the consciousness and the self-awareness to reject the delusional feelings of power that they had, or to simply not enjoy the power and say that this was not for them. They saw that "Power corrupts..." and refused to participate. To my mind, this took strength and class and speaks well of some elements of humanity. All too few, unfortunately.
The Soldier In Iraq
Which brings me to the soldier now fighting in Iraq. Whether a basic PFC all the way up to, perhaps, Colonels, these men and women are basically powerless. They are buffeted by forces beyond their control. Ethnic tensions they don't understand, an invisible enemy, their superiors, politics from Washington, their family situations back home, you name it: they're being pushed around in every which way. But every now and then they run into a situation where they have the power, over innocent men, women and children. And let's face it, since they're just people and not angels, they're going to take the opportunity to get back at the 'enemy'. So the soldiers are, in some instances, going to do things that are unacceptable. They'll fire without provocation, they'll bully and frighten the people. This is true as well for the mercenaries, the contractors, which go by several euphemisms. That's why they're not very popular in Iraq right now. Some, perhaps many, have taken advantage of their illusory 'power', which comes by all to rarely for their taste. And they will pay for it psychologically. Perhaps there have been massacres of innocents in Iraq - we'll never know for sure for the military will never bring these to light.
Abu Ghraib was a prime example of Zimbardo's study. Soldiers and intelligence agents were placed in a position of absolute power over prisoners. Directives from the top indicated that the gloves were off with these prisoners. And horrible things happened. No surprise there. What would have been surprising if abuses didn't occur under the circumstances - Zimbardo showed that abuses are to be expected.
The Bush Administration
But really, the perfect example of "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" is the Bush Administration. First, you have the most powerful nation on earth. Right now it doesn't seem that way, certainly financially, but militarily the US is without peer even after the devastating damage inflicted on it in Iraq. It has an unmatched Air Force that hasn't been touched. The Navy still commands the seas with ships that no one else can even dream of. They are chockful of cruise missiles and ICBMs, and have literally countless numbers of nuclear weapons, enough to destroy the world many times over.
As well, they have control of the Senate and Congress, the judiciary, and the media. Not to mention the secret services like the NSA and CIA, which daily capture more information than any nation previous could in years. They have recently come up with the specious 'Unitary Executive' theory, which allows the President to monitor perceived opponents, or even secretly search their homes. They can make you, or anyone, disappear into an invisible worldwide gulag of prisons and torture hotels.
'Absolute power' indeed.
So, is it any wonder that at the same time scandals are breaking throughout the realm, despite their best efforts to suppress the leaks? Everyone in Congress and the Senate seems to be on the take. They revealed the identity of a covert CIA agent for revenge. The media is certainly on the take, if not in cash, then definitely in 'access' - play ball, or you'll never have anyone from the government speak to you again. And let's not even mention licensing. People on peace marches being suppressed with massive police force. Two prosecutors on the Abramoff case have been 'promoted' to judgeships. Lobbyists everywhere. Businesses that go along doing very well indeed, ones that don't - eh, not so well. The Vice President still openly receiving money from Halliburton. Even the voting system has been perverted, with unauditable and easily hacked Diebold machines everywhere. Reporters being monitored. Insane pundits like Coulter declaring that Joe McCarthy was a great American. The list is long. The corruption seems to be absolute, indeed.
Keeping Hope Alive
I don't have a lot of hope, but I guess there's some, especially through sites like DailyKos, however long they decide to let it exist. The rot of corruption may eventually destroy the system from within. But tyrannies can take a long time to overthrow. Hitler might have lasted a lot longer in power if he hadn't been so stupid as to invade Russia. Stalin for his part might have stayed in power a lot longer if his paranoia hadn't caused him to decide to preemptively nuke the US, at which point Beria infused his drink with rat poison, causing a brain hemorrhage. (Or so the story goes.) Kim Jong Il and his father have run North Korea for a very long time, despite the deaths of millions. And of course, Saddam might have remained in power for many more years if the US hadn't run him out. Tyrannies are tenacious.
The best answer is to fight them at their root, when they're first starting up. Our best chance is now; later may be too late. Fight now, fight for Democrats and progressives, despite their many flaws. Don't let this chance slip away, there may not be another for a long time.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.