The Effects of Power on Responsibility
Power and responsibility have a complex relationship that is connected by factors such as a person’s morals and ethics, personality, and under what conditions the person was raised. In a world where power can be found in many forms and in many places, the use and abuse of power can be seen regularly. Power is not just being the CEO of a fortune five-hundred company, or being an elected political representative, the manager of Taco Bell has power, as well as parents as they raise their children. These are the people who have the most influence on how power is used, and if it is used with responsibility. In the United states there are five-hundred and thirty-five congressmen, a president, and a
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He simply did not have the power to start a foundation for cancer. But once he gained the power, it gave him a means to the end. Often we have ideas that would show great amounts of responsibility, but simply cannot put them into action because we do not have power, and in this way power has a great effect on responsibility. Power does not always change a person’s morals or responsibility, it just gives them the opportunity to achieve greater things that they may not have been able to accomplish before they gained their power.
An increase in responsibility will change a person’s use of power because they may do things for the good of other people that are not necessarily looking out for themselves. In the case of Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, his level of responsibility was increased when he became the man in charge of a squad of marines. Many people believe that his actions were crimes against humanity, but in his situation he used his power responsibly to try to heel the men he was responsibly for alive. An article by Josh White of the Washington Post says:
Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich, 26, told his attorney that several civilians were killed Nov. 19 when his squad went after insurgents who were firing at them from inside a house. The Marine said there was no vengeful massacre, but he described a house-to-house hunt that went tragically awry in the middle of a chaotic battlefield.”
In the circumstances, Staff Sgt. Wuterich kept the
The President’s responsibilities seem to be endless and with such responsibility comes certain defined powers to handle those responsibilities. The Presidents power to act unilaterally enables the president to act in a formal capacity without the support of congress. The President must do so with justification or the President can be found in violation of the Constitutional powers received by the executive branch. There has continued to be a trend of more Presidents exercising their unilateral powers more frequently. There are many occasions in the history of this great nation where the President has had to act without the support of congress and has changed the shape of the nation forever.
Power is earned, not given. There are many different types of power that people can earn. Power becomes a problem when it is not questioned or tested. Therefore, the one with the power would have total control over anything or anyone they wanted, or they would feel that way. People with power feel invincible when it is not questioned. Throughout history it has been proven that this creates a problem. For example, Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal is similar to the scandal with Father Flynn in Doubt. Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley, exemplifies an underlying message that unquestioned faith leads to abuse of power. Specifically, shown in Father Flynn’s reputation, cover up, and resignation, which all correlate to Richard Nixon’s
Personal power has the ability to be essential to greatness, and at the same time is able to destroy a person’s nature. In the drama Macbeth by William Shakespeare, the main character, Macbeth, becomes corrupt through power that he gains. The play shows that even someone who starts out like Macbeth and does not crave power, will do terrible things to gain authority and power.
Another example of how power corrupts is seen through Josef Mengele a Nazi physician who became so influenced by power that he no longer had concern for how he affected other people. In the beginning, Mengele was simply an ordinary physician who "...had
The following quote shows Ralph’s actions when put into a position of power. “Better Piggy than Fatty,” he said at last, with the directness of genuine leadership (Golding 17) The reader should notice that Ralph isn’t aware of how his actions are affecting others, he thinks he is being a good leader when he is actually just being cruel. Ralph is blinded by power. This supports my thesis because it shows how Ralph’s power affects his decisions. The next quote shows that Ralph uses his power as his own way of motivation. “I know. All right. Something deep in Ralph spoke for him. I’m chief. I’ll go. Don’t argue.” The reader should notice how Ralph uses power as courage to accomplish something he wouldn’t normally try. This supports my thesis because it shows that Ralph’s leadership role changes his
I feel the system is biased because there are inequalities among the representation and participation of interest groups and constituents in the political system. Unfortunately, poor and uneducated citizens aren’t as organized as interest groups, lobbyists and PACs because they lack the money, resources and connections necessary to influence congress members on legislative bills. It is evident that, “businesses, interest groups and labor unions are spending more than $100 million a month to lobby the federal government”(Associated Press, SFC, 3/7/98). “The actual population of interest groups in Washington surely reflects that there is a class bias in the membership of interest groups”(JBG).
Abraham Lincoln once stated, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." The quote from the sixteenth president of the United States could be understood as power will display someone's true character by seeing what that person will do with that power that they have been given. People will follow orders blindly just to feel powerful or superior to others, and they will do unthinkable things to people just to have
Abraham Lincoln once stated, "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." The quote from the 16th president of the United States can be interpreted that power will display someone's true character by seeing what that person will do with that power that they have been given. People will follow orders blindly just to feel powerful or superior than others, they will do unthinkable things to people just to have the feeling of power. For example, Hitler wanted to have a superior race, so the Nazi soldiers were seen as the superior race; therefore, the soldiers felt superior
Power can have the persuasive action in undoing the moral ethics of one’s character. This can be seen throughout history, such as World War II and proven by the actions of Napoleon in the allegory, Animal Farm, by George Orwell. As Lord Acton said “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In history what was viewed as a villain or wrong doer is never the same as the perception. A leader does not begin wanting to do wrong, they start with the best intentions, but power is a tricky thing, showcased in Animal Farm as Utopian ideals but with failed practices.
The body, mind, and soul of an individual are capable of becoming corrupted by power. Power makes one feel as if that person was a God, which is a sign of the corruption in that individual. According to Lord Actin, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," states that power can make an individual vulnerable to corruption. The second portion of Lord Actin?s quote discusses absolute power corrupting absolutely which implies that absolute power can corrupt an individual as well as the individual?s surroundings. This idea of corruption can be located in fictional novels such as Animal Farm by George Orwell. Animal Farm is a story about animals dictated by a former animal comrade. The dictator in the novel, Napoleon,
This paper is concerned with the concepts of accountability; representation and control explain the euro debt crisis in detail. The author takes a deeper journey into the meaning of occurs of Euro sovereign debt crisis by use of definition of ARC to in-depth explain this issue. We propose further examination of the ARC relating to the Euro sovereign debt crisis in order to propose a prosperous and harmonious of Euro zone.
A world of system designed to keep people in unjust and unequal positions is held in place by several interrelated expression of "power over": political power, economic power, physical force, and ideological power (Bishop, 1994: 36). So, we can say power is defined as a possession of control, authority or influence over others. In terms of power of dominant groups over subordinate groups, we define power as domination of one group of people over another in major important spheres of life. Power inequities have been in existence throughout the history of humanity and the ways of manifestation evolved from extreme overt oppression to subtle, covert oppression. Three major forms of power inequalities discussed in this paper are
In the world we live in today the roles of power and leadership are often confused. Although they have similar meanings, they can be distinctly defined between the latter. The key difference between the two is the term of effect. Power is the exercise of leadership, and leadership is only defined if you have power. Leadership always involves attempts on a leader to affect behavior or a follower in a situation, whereas power is not equivalent with influence on another person’s behavior. Although power and leadership have similar meanings, they are certain differences that can point out what makes
The concept of power is present within various realms of all organizations. Power, however, is not something that should necessarily be looked at negatively. There are justifiable types of power that may be important to criminal justice organizations. The main role of power in criminal justice administration should be to gain compliance from subordinates of all types, and turn that power over time into acceptable forms of authority (Stojkovic et al., 2008). It is for this reason that power is an important attribute in criminal justice agencies.
People want power because it gives them control and dominance over others. Power gives the person who has it the ability to do whatever they want, say whatever they want and make people do what they want. In the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller the whole plot revolves around the theme of power. There is a never ending conflict of characters to keep, assert and acquire power. The most prominent characters that ultimately hurt the community the most due to their greed and lust for power are Deputy Governor Danforth, Reverend Parris and Abigail Williams. Although their relationship with power is different from one another they all have one thing in common. Parris, Danforth and Abigail all contribute to the demise of Salem because of their