Does power corrupt? Or do the corrupt just seek power?

Answer 1

No. to both

Everyone has power in one way or another, and not everyone is corrupt.

The corrupt would be expected to seek power, but that does not mean that eveyone who seeks power is currupt.

Even the saying that absolute power absolutely corrupts is wrong. It just takes a person with stronger morals to resist.

Answer 2

Both. Unfortunately in the UK you have the well meaning politicians who are going to change everything for the better and sincerely mean it, unfortunately they have to go through the mill of becoming influencial by which time they are that endebted to the system and perhaps that despondant that they opt for the easy option, which is to toe the line and feather their own nests (per se the Blairs, Neil Kinnocks and the Prescotts of modern politics).
For example: Kinnock was a FAILED politician, make no odds about it, yet here he is STILL dictating UK policy and law from the confines of the EU. Worse still his wife is now slurping on the gravy train and she was neither a politician nor indeed smart in the ways of the world, by ANY stretch of the imagination.
Then you have the carreer politicians who have NEVER worked in a factory, NEVER had to struggle to make ends meet, NEVER even served there countries armed forces yet they reach great heights by evading questions and talking Bol*ox.
The US (for all it's faults) has a constitution that states if a government has become corrupt or repeatedly fails it's people then tear it down and start again.
THAT is exactly what the UK needs NOW. I'm not advocating revolution, heaven forbid, if that were the case, then the hoody hoardes and bogus asylum seekers would well and truly have us by the ba"ls.
What I am suggesting is proportional representation, a STRAIGHT TALKING PARTY that says what it is about in PLAIN everyday english and sticks to it!
We might not agree with ALL the policies but the right to reflect personal views and a PARTY that will amend thier policies to suit the majority (as oppposed to the PC, left wing, do-gooder minority,) SURELY CANNOT fail.
After all isn't that what democracy is all about?
We seem to have weasled our way down a blind alley where the few make the rules and the rest, although they disagree, follow them (but isn't that the British way?), hence the uncertantity, indecision, and floundering in our crumbling society.
I find it ironic that when we the west (the EU and the US) are pushing democracy on EVERYONE else (play OUR game, by OUR rules, accept it, or else) that we ourselves DO NOT have the democracy our forefathers fought hard for. (ie: how many times were YOU watched on camera today or had your phone tapped?). We used to call the Eastern Block countries repressive for what we put up with TODAY and EVERY DAY.!
Someone once said 'the law is an ***' and how true today? But the law reflects directly on the asses making it. We STILL have laws dating back to the 1600's, let's scrap them all, start again with relevant laws and if there aren't enough prisons turn the Isle of Wight into a penal colony. Let them live with their own sort, I'd imagine the prison population would diminish whilst they live by the sword and die by it (among their own) and let the rest of us walk the streets safe again.
I'm thinking of starting the STRAIGHT TALKING PARTY...anyone in?
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Answer 3

No-one's born corrupt, and corrupt is a word, and power is an general term for fame. wealth, etc. Essentially, the more powerful you are, the less you have to listen to people, deal with their opinions and obey their morality. The support that you needed from them turns into a service you pay for or demand. The restraints on your mind at that point start to slip until the moment that you realise that the morality that you posses is not your own, and you don't have to obey it's rules, and your actions become the same as your whims. And your whims become others ideas, and their ideas become others laws.

The want of power corrupts as much as the acquisition.

"Running and chasing make men's hearts mad"-Dao De Jing

Answer 4

Well, without Power, one is just a bad person and no one cares. And Yes, a bad person can seek power.
BUT, when one gains some power, he's ALWAYS tempted to gain more power in whatever system he's in. Fail to gain power probably due to greater competition or impatience for more work than one can handle, his mind corrupts, and corrupts. Then he seeks power in a corrupted way.
He now has More power, and he is Corrupted.

Answer 5

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

For a person to be autonomous is widely considered to be a good thing. It is a feature of being fully human. When a person exercises power over others, the powerholder gains the impression that the others do not control their own behaviour or, in other words, they are not autonomous. Hence, they are seen as less worthy. In short, a person who successfully exercises power over others is more likely to believe that these others are less deserving of respect. They thus become good prospects to be exploited.

Answer 6

power corrupts. the corrupted seeks absolute power. absolute power corrupts absolutely. Hitler, Stalin, Bush, Mgabe, Pinoche, all proof of this truth.

Answer 7

i think it goes both ways. two necessary evils. right hand and left hand. power corrupts you and in return once u are corrupted u keeping seeking for power. this is so true of many world leaders today

Answer 8

Corrupt in Power further corrupt the system and it spreads like cancer.

Answer 9

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Think about it, if you have the power to invade countries and rule over everybodys lives...what would you do?

Answer 10

power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely