Power

Power is by definition "possession of control, authority, or influence over others" ("Power"). There can be a good type of power and a bad type of power. It just depends on how the person with the power uses it. It also depends on how the person with the power obtained the power. If the person with the power uses the power for bad he/she is going to be very disliked by the population. However, if they use the power for the good of everyone then everyone likes the person. Also, if a person only gets the power from killing the predecessor, then the person who now has the power could be hated. Unless, no one liked the predecessor. Power is all about who has it and what they do with the power.

Power has been corrupted over and over again in history. This is due to conspiracy's, battles, and death's. When people conspire to take down a leader the people in the city are affected and do not know what to do. Should they listen to their leader? Or to the people that dislike the leader? The population usually just follows what everyone else is doing even if it might not be the right thing to do. Power could also corrupt because of a leaders hunger for wealth and they just go after everything just so that they can obtain money off of it. Greed is another factor of a corrup power. Some rulers just feel the need to take and take and not think about any of the people that they are affecting with the choices that they make. If a ruler abuses the people he rules such as bossing them around to do something that they don't want, their power becomes corrupt. Sometimes, once people have the power they do not know how to use it, so they use it to the disadvantage of everyone else.

Power can be corrupted whether it be because the powerful person has a change of heart or other people convince him otherwise. Take Julius Caesar for example. He was very powerful and was high up in the senate ("Julius"). He was starting to change the Roman society ("Julius"). It started with one person to start a conspiracy agains Julius Caesar to take him down ("Julius"). Cassius started the conspiracy because he thought that Julius Caesar was becoming too powerful. Cassius convinced everyone, even Caesar's best friend, that Caesar needed to be killed ("Julius"). Cassius corrupted the power of Julius Caesar by having him assasinated ("Julius"). Hitler is another famous person who corrupted his power. By attacking an individual race and trying to kill them all in the Holocaust was going way to far with power ("Adolf"). The only reason he got as far as he did was because he scared everyone who was close to him so no one was able to confront him ("Adolf"). Adolf Hitler was a crazy man, who did not know when to stop with how far he took ability to use his power over people.

Power is distinguished by the user. If the user is an abuser, then the power is corrupt and no one wants that leader to be the leader anymore. There are many ways to corrupt power, so its the job of the leaders to learn these ways and not practice them or they will not be have the power for very long. People need to use the power that they have over other people for the good, not the bad. In history, there have been too many examples of corrupt power that could have changed history for the better. Power is in the hand of the beholder.



"Power - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .

"Julius Caesar -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .

"Adolf Hitler -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .

"File:Caesar.jpg -." Wikimedia Commons. Web. 25 Feb. 2010. .