Dear Friends,
It seems to me, of all the abuses a wrong form of government can engage in, abuse of power is both the source and therefore the worst. Using the powers of government to forward a political faction’s power, is the source because, all other abuses of power stem from that initial usurpation of power. It is the worst since abusing the power bestowed to a politician, aristocrat, monarch, bureaucrat or tribune, is a fundamental violation of the trust placed in him or her. It is a personal, willful violation that shows the low caliber of the individual(s) and it bestows too much power on just those people who, as highlighted by their actions, should have none. Since abuse of power both violates the trust placed in our leaders, and it also opens the way for other abuses of the people and our trust, it also inevitably leads to oppression, chaos, poverty and war. Yet, all of those ills can be fended off long before they become real existential dangers, by simply making examples of those politicians who engage in abuse of power, so others in the future view the danger of being caught, as sufficient to cause them to withhold action.
What I mean for the purposes of this article by abuse of power is, the use of the apparatus of government to forward a political agenda, rather than a national one. Using the IRS as a political weapon for example. An executive who exploits his or her role and wields the IRS as a political weapon, has both violated the fundamental trust we place in that leader, and is an obvious attempt to undermine the legitimate political process, which can only lead to hegemony of a faction, which opens the door to every other usurpation imaginable. A leader who engaged in exploiting his position and violating the trust we placed in him, to create oppression, is someone who should be made an example of. Moreover, once the abuse of power goes unpunished, it becomes commonplace.
That is how societies evolve over time, what was once unthinkable starts happening, then mushrooms until it yields up it’s fruit. Either poison or blessing, the first leading to such catastrophes as the Black Death, and the second like the introduction of potatoes to Europe, saving the lives of literally millions of children over the ages. To allow the small end of the wedge of abuse of power into a governmental structure, especially if one faction is allowed while others are not, is a sure path to evolving a society to a catastrophe like the Black Death. Sadly, calamity is so easy to see, yet we refuse to look. We blindly glom along, as our society and culture are led to catastrophe by our ignoring the abuse of power. This is why abuse of power leads to poverty, oppression and war.
Another example of abuse of power would theoretically be… a corrupt executive abusing his power to listen in on conversations of people who are legitimate national security threats, to listen in on a rival political party’s communications, email, PM and voice, then used the intelligence gained to get the upper hand in an election. Any allegation of that nature, in a society that cares at all about corruption free government, would be investigated immediately, and by people who can demonstrate their lack of bias. Any nation where such an event happened and it wasn’t immediately investigated, is a nation in which the unthinkable abuse of power is rapidly becoming commonplace.
Nixon didn’t face impeachment hearings in the Senate, because some people affiliated with him broke into the Watergate hotel, without his knowledge… The overt reason, the one we are given by the unbiased media is that he engaged in a cover up of the crime, while not being involved with the crime he abused the power of the Presidency to cover it up. The subtext, the real reason never mentioned, is that Nixon was impeached by the House as payback for prosecuting Alger Hiss. Nevertheless, in the 1970’s, even abuse of power to cover up a politically motivated crime, was sufficient to generate articles of impeachment, how much worse to actually abuse power so fundamentally, as using the IRS as a political weapon, or the national intelligence service to spy on political foes? Our acceptance of such corruption will not make it go away, our acceptance by not speaking up, emboldens it. Inevitably leading to poverty, chaos, oppression and war.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
