… is from page 519 of the 1988 collection of Lord Acton’s writings and notes to himself (edited by the late J. Rufus Fears), Essays in Religion, Politics, and Morality; specifically, it’s a note drawn from Acton’s extensive papers at Cambridge University:
Among all the causes which degrade and demoralize men, power is the most constant and the most active.
DBx: Indeed.
Power is so persistent because it is the only means by which the greedy and the arrogant amongst us – of whom there are many – can get us to do their bidding without them having to give to us at least equal value in return. Even the private corporation that currently ‘dominates’ some industry classification must offer workers wages that workers find attractive, and offer its customers bargains that customers find attractive. In contrast, people with genuine power are able to get other people to do their bidding, not by offering to make these other people better off, but by threatening to make them worse off if they disobey the power-holders’ commands.
