power

The thing about power, including when people use terms like soft power and hard power, is that it is entirely misunderstood.

There is a quotation that follows people with power and authority. Until literally just now I had never thought to search out the context.

Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, KCVO DL) wrote it in a letter1 to Archbishop Mandell Creighton on April 5, 1887.

So, not just anyone then.

And this is it:

“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority; still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority.”

Speaking of bad men, I wildly overestimated the number of false or misleading statements made by the 45th President of the United States of America. It turns out that, according to the Washington Post, he only made 30,573, not the 48,000 figure I had in my head.2

It’s only been a little over 5 years since he lost the previous election.

My most repeated quotation with the #QuoteSunday hashtag – across 4 social networks including the fondly-remembered App.net – is by George Santayana. You’ll have seen and probably heard this one too:

” Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Until about 16 or 17 months ago it was my fervent hope (even as an Englishman I’m being honest here) that President 47 would be constrained by the power of existing laws, and ‘the people’ would have the representation to…3

Yeah, I’m naive.

Dictator.

No, in no way, shape or form a benevolent one.

Anyway, even when power is wielded for good it doesn’t always work out as intended.

A plaque dedicated to Cleveland Ohio's Mayor Michael R. White's efforts to restore the NFL Browns franchise to his city after owner Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore in 1995. | "The Cleveland Browns Organization dedicates this plaque to Mayor Michael R. White, whose tireless leadership led to the retention of the Cleveland Browns Football Franchise for this great community. Mayor White quarterbacked a team of citizens who refused to quit until they scored a final and permanent victory. "Our name, our team, our colors," became the slogan and the goal for his successful campaign. This magnificent stadium serves as the new home of the Browns and it also serves as a tribute to the effort that reflects the spirit and tenacity that makes Cleveland a special place."
A plaque dedicated to Cleveland Ohio’s Mayor Michael R. White’s efforts to restore the NFL Browns franchise to his city after owner Art Modell moved the team to Baltimore in 1995. | “The Cleveland Browns Organization dedicates this plaque to Mayor Michael
R. White, whose tireless leadership led to the retention of the Cleveland Browns Football Franchise for this great community.
Mayor White quarterbacked a team of citizens who refused to quit until they scored a final and permanent victory.
“Our name, our team, our colors,” became the slogan and the goal for his successful campaign. This magnificent stadium serves as the new home of the Browns and it also serves as a tribute to the effort that reflects the spirit and tenacity that makes Cleveland a special place.”
  1. Link to Lord Acton’s letter to Archbishop Mandell Creighton, Apr. 5, 1887: https://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/165acton.html ↩
  2. ‘False or misleading statements by Donald Trump (first term)’. Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_or_misleading_statements_by_Donald_Trump_(first_term). (Wikipedia used because the WaPo page might be paywalled). ↩
  3. ‘Trump’s vow to only be a dictator on ‘day one’ follows growing worry over his authoritarian rhetoric’, AP News link: https://apnews.com/article/trump-hannity-dictator-authoritarian-presidential-election-f27e7e9d7c13fabbe3ae7dd7f1235c72 ↩