Absolute Power! What is absolute power?.
Is it the ability to destroy the world at the push of a button?.
Or having the ultimate capacity to influence the behaviour of others and their emotions?.
Or is absolute power being able to alter the course of events with a single word or action?.
Assuming that all of the above answer the question, what is absolute power? We must ask ourselves what drives people to want absolute power?.
Is it self-satisfaction? Financial Gain? Is it sheer greed? Or is it simply the individual desire to achieve total dominance over a set of circumstances?.
Absolute power may be considered to be the abuse of power delegated to a person or country. A person's desire to achieve absolute power can result in such an obsession that it can transform the individual to become ruthless, and determined to obtain the highest point of power by whatever means necessary to accomplish that goal.
A person's ambition for power may become a flaw in their character, their ambition may lead people to think they are selfish and one who has total disregard for other people's emotions. Their obsession to achieve their desire, may ultimately lead to their downfall. Someone who has absolute power may or may not be a hero, and may not necessarily be someone who you would look up to or respect, however the individual can have the power to make very important decisions which will affect the everyday lives of ordinary people.
Who would you perceive to have or have had absolute power?.
Historically there may be many that could lay claim to such a title, and there are many of those who have caused such havoc and despair throughout the world.
Tsar Nicholas I, ruling emperor of Russia became known for his harsh rule. He created a secret police force to prevent any anti-government activity. He censored the press, persecuted Russian authors and demanded loyalty to the Tsar and the Russian Nation. He succeeded in ruling Russia from 1796 until his death in 1855.
Absolute Power! What is absolute power? ... Absolute power may be considered to be the abuse of power delegated to a person or country. ... No one has the right to have absolute power over others. Power they may well have, but absolute it can never be. ...
"Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." ... Absolute power always becomes corrupt. "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." ... Absolute power always becomes corrupt. ... "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." ...
Lord Canton once stated "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely-. ... Individuals strive to achieve absolute power during their lifetime. ... At first, she is a victim of absolute power in pre-revolutionary France. ... Based on the cycle, as targets of tyranny gain more power and control, the dreaded abuses of power are only doomed to repeat once again. ...
Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely In the early 1840's, Frederick Douglass wrote an autobiography of his life as a slave. ... The second was the corrupting influence the power of slavery had upon the slaveholder. ... The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced it's infernal work" (2). ... Due to his master's explanation of why his mistress shouldn't teach him, a slave, to read, Douglass realizes exactly where white society gets its power to enslave black society. ... Douglass conveys to his readers the drastic change that too...
Locke argued that people had natural rights and liberties that allowed man to do whatever he wanted to do without the arbitrary or absolute power of another man. ... Prior to the revolution, the British Parliament was certainly an arbitrary and absolute power over the colonies. ... English radicals such as Joseph Priestly and James Burgh collected ideas from Enlightenment and oppositionist authors and found that "at the heart of all political relationships raged a struggle between the aggressive extension of artificial power and the natural liberty of the people." ...
"Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." said Lord Acton in a letter to his friend. ... Charles I is a obvious example of the corruption of power. Another figure in the corruption of power was Louis XIV. ... He had complete power iver the traditional sections of power: foreign policy, the church, and taxes. ... The corruption of power was brought up again by Peter the Great in Russia. ...
Power is the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. ... In society, humans are often found taking advantage of others to gain absolute control/ power, it is human nature. An example of an abuse of power takes place in George Orwell's fable, Animal Farm. ... Squealer purposefully plugs thoughts of fear into the animal's minds to show the consequences of the pigs not in power. ... The ability to manipulate is what marks great power. ...
Both were dictators with a strong sense of nationalism and both believed themselves to be the absolute ruling. ... Benito Mussolini came into power in 1922 Italy by means of the "March of Rome." ... He used strict censorship to limit other political parties from trying to rise into power. ... Like fascist ideology, Mussolini was anti-democratic because he wanted to be the absolute ruler and achieved this when he became dictator of Italy. ... Had their power been used for good rather then the evil it turned into, history might have been different. ...
That being said, I acknowledge Hobbes' ability to form a persuasive argument for an absolute sovereignty, however his depiction of the state of human nature greatly underestimates the capacity of human compassion thus his theory of absolute sovereignty has the potential to be further developed. ... The desires for security of the basic necessities of life as well as our inability to be perfectly contempt with the power we already have are the fundamental conceptions in explaining why competition is prevalent in the state of nature, since the measures of one's power is relative to t...
