Everyone knows that power can corrupt. Why?

Question

Everyone knows that power can corrupt. Why?

Answer 1

It starts with little things.  If you were in a position of power and you were interviewing excellent candidates to work for you.  Your close brother is one of them and you know he is not quite as good as the other candidates  Your brother and his family are going through hard times and he has been out of work for years, not being successful at job interviews.  Are you going to give your brother the job and start the corruption? or would you do the honourable thing?

Question to Clifford D; how do you know that there is people in power who are not corrupt? are you with them 24/7? and who are they? name the people who you absolutely know they are not corrupt???

Answer 2

There is the old adage that once you gain power the thing you fear the most is to lose it. Greed is a pretty good answer, but i dont think it quite hits at the true. Without making claims about the supernatural or about life outside the one we all live...humans have a pretty tenuous grasp on life most of the time. People live and die in mere instances and often have far less control than they would like. When given the opportunity to take command and control over aspects of their lives, most people will jump at the chance, because it is a rare treat to have large control over ones own destiny, or the lives of others. Since such influence when exerted over large numbers of people, is so different that what is the norm for humanity, people often will go to great lengths to maintain the power. At this point, the corruption occurs, and the adage has been proven true over time because of it.

Answer 3

Because you lose a relative sight of yourself especially with people fawning over you. You would have to be naturally humble to withstand the pressure of access to a lot of  power.

Thankfully most people get brought to their knees by life events.

Politicians and leaders of countries seem to be the worst hit as they rarely have to answer for their actions as they have absolute power.

Answer 4

What makes a person with power corrupt? Are people who don't have power corrupt? Can a person who is confined to a wheel chair and can't use their arms and legs be corrupt? That question is disingenuous and misleading, because if it were true everybody who had power would be corrupt. We know that some people who have power are not corrupt.

Answer 5

a natural tendency by man when in power is to exploit that power to get what he wants. Different people react in different ways to power, and it all depends on the person.

Answer 6

Power is a dis-inhibitor.  The more power a person has, the less inhibited he or she can be - and get away with it.  So, the more power a person has, the more his or her underlying problems start to show up, and the less likely those around will say anything about it.  If you give a  highly evolved person a lot of power, he or she will shine - like the Dali Lama.  Most people aren't that dedicated to truth and conscious living, so when given power, their unconscious, unresolved stuff starts coming out, and we all know what that looks like.

Answer 7

Greed. When in aposition of power,the opportunity to exploit are increased. And the human condition for some is the acquisition of wealth, by hook or by crook.

Answer 8

Because if you use power for the wrong things, and kill people for no reason eg. joseph stalin. And you also keep everyhting for yourself(being selfish and greedy) and if you give nothing to the poor. the worst thing is you give no human rights.

Answer 9

I'd say it takes a certain type of person to be able to be powerful and yet not corrupted. A type of person who is a true born leader, who can ignore the temptations and just get on with the bigger picture.

I'd say 99.9% of people are not this type of person and do abuse power, maybe its just human weaknesses that are the problem.

Greed.

True leaders? I'd say Gandhi was one - i can't really think of any more. Possibly Jesus if he existed would be a good example also.

I wouldn't list nelson mandela or the dalai lama as true leaders because they both abuse/abused their power in some way. (definelty none of the various popes lolol)