Power Corrupts
Throughout the history of man, rulers and philosophers have proven
that power corrupts. The British Historian Lord Acton observed that
“power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Lord
Acton statement is proven through the actions of rulers such as
Charles I of England and Hitler.
In a letter to his friend Lord Acton wrote that “power tends to
corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely”. This quote describes how
absolute power always becomes corrupt. Lord Acton recognized the
dangers of political power. He understood that rulers put their own
interest above all and will do just about anything to stay in power.
He believed that wars were always started to increase the power of the
ruler. The wars between countries were always the rulers attempt to
reduce or take over land. Civil wars were started to get rid of an
oppressive ruler. No wars were started because it was supported by the
people; it is always the rulers who are making the decisions[1]. Our
founding fathers believed in Lord Acton’s theories and designed our
constitution to avoid the corruption of power. This is why there are
checks and balances between legislature, executive and judicial
branches. However, democracy is everybody’s entitlement to gain power
over everyone else. Their still and always will remain a struggle
between individuals and groups for power[2].
Lord Acton’s theory comes to truth in the 17th and 18th century. Most
of the monarchs, when faced with controlling powerful nations, became
corrupt and greedy. One example would be Charles I, who came into
power after his father James I died. He felt that he should control
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... The purpose of this essay was to prove that power does corrupt. I
think I did a very good job in proving this because I used specific
informative examples. Using these real life history examples was one
of the strong points in my essay. My essay is precise organised and
formal. This is another strong point of my essay.
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[1] Moreell, Ben, “Power Corrupts”, Acton Institute.
www.acton.org/publicat/randl/article.php?id=65
[2] Ellis, Tom, “Liberty vs. Democracy”, Acton Institute, 1995.
www.strike-the-root.com/4/bylund3.html
[3] “Charles I”, Britannia, 2003.
http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon47.html
[4] Woods, Alan, “The Truth About the Second World War”, July 21, 2004.
http://www.marxist.com/History/d_day_60yrs_2.html
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