Power Corrupts Absolutely (satire)

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." — Lord Acton, letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887

"When power leads men towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses." — John F Kennedy, remarks at Amherst College, October 26, 1963

Thus to prevent a great man from being corrupted by power, it is imperative to remain modest even when temptation leads a great man to fall. It matters not if he is the President of the United States or the leader of al-Qaeda, nor does it matter if he comes from a privileged family or has crawled out of the depth of poverty and despair.

Where a great man will seek power, he does so declaring that it is done for the sake of other people. Those people who cherish his words forget that power corrupts absolute. Thus even greater men have resisted temptation and turned their back on the quest for power.

I cannot say which man is greater, but I do know that great men of power are well known in history, be it Julius Caesar, Plato, Ashoka, Genghis Khan, Lord Tokugawa, the Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad, and many more men. The same cannot be said for my father, my grandparents, the villagers who die in famines, the people who died when America dropped bombs on them in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many other people who suffer due to the corrupt of great men.

For almost all great men are also bad men, be it Obama or Osama bin Laden. Yet Obama is left off the hook because of his supporters believe they can only do good.

When bombs dropped in Kabul, only the al-Qaeda knew who signed the order to drop them. When the rebels in Syria suffered heavy losses, only the al-Qaeda knew who favored them (and it was not God).

While the reason for the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq is known only to the Bush administration, it was the propaganda by the mainstream media which blamed the Taleban and weapons of mass destruction in Afghanistan and Iraq respective. Other propagandists blamed 911 on these invasions of sovereign nations.

However, the reason why Afghanistan was invaded was to fulfill American foreign policy. Since the Taleban had refused to ratify a pact that would allow an oil pipeline to run through the country, Congress signed the order to invade it. Thus it was for profit that Afghanistan was invaded.

Likewise, the invasion of Iraq was to fulfill foreign policy, which is to profit by deposing Saddam Hussein, who was not a threat to America at al. For there were no weapons of mass destruction.

Therefore, a great man became a bad man by calling for war.

It is small wonder that a lady serving under Jean Chretien called that bad man "a moron."