| Power - the unlimited disruption. |
| Written by John Burch | |
| Thursday, 31 May 2007 | |
|
Too much power and what do we do about it?
Everyone sees the world from a different perspective. I see power as an unrecognized force in our world. We talk about powerful people as if describing some personality attribute, whereas it is really something as change inducing as money or ballistic missiles. Democracy is a step in the direction of handling abuse of political power because it attempts to spread the power among the people and prevent the existence of kings and emperors. A democracy is an agreement to share political power, but with little or no limits on the amount of economic power one man can acquire. Democracy is the latest thing in an evolution from strong king to weak king to party rule to general democracy. But always it is a system for the regulation of political power. No one has yet defined how to limit economic power for the good of the people. We have not evolved to the place where it can be talked about the way we talk about politics. Should a corporation be allowed to influence politics? Can you separate money from politics? No likely, but there is a question of how do you regulate the actions of large corporations that can not swear allegiance to a country but only to shareholders. What if every one had to explain their actions to everyone who was directly affected by those actions? Government officials need to explain why they do what they do. We need to know who they are - not by what they say but by what they do and why they do it. And few persons with power want to give that up. Or be regulated by those who have less power. In the future when life is extended, old men will not die and pass the reigns to younger men and women, they will live on, growing more powerful. Becoming less vulnerable to challenge. So how do we regulate society so that power does not accumulate? |
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