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From: rf@wu1.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Power corrupts?  A note. (Power and insecurity)
Message-ID: <227@wu1.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 4-Jan-84 18:12:07 EST
Article-I.D.: wu1.227
Posted: Wed Jan  4 18:12:07 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 6-Jan-84 02:28:41 EST
References: <219@wu1.UUCP>, <1599@utcsstat.UUCP>
Organization: Western Union Telegraph, Mahwah, NJ
Lines: 22

One who will seek power for his own comfort (including the
comfort of security) is corrupt before he gains power.  Worse
still, no amount of power satisfies such people.  One who believes
power comforts and is not comforted by the power he already has
will often seek yet more power.  Ultimately, such people become
quite unhappy.

In democracies he problem of the foolish power seeker is
compounded by popular mythology.  Not only are children taught
that political power is a cure for their ills, they are actually
encouraged in power seeking regardless of their qualifications
for rulership.

The company I work for has a long history of turning good
engineers into awful managers.  These people would not dream of
dealing with a technical problem outside of their expertise,
yet, with no actual knowledge of rulership, they believe they
are qualified as rulers.  This problem is often aggravated by
active contempt for courtesy -- a necessity of management.


				Randolph Fritz