Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Human Rights Law Blogs -> Never In Our Names

Human Rights Law

: Never In Our Names

Power and Fear: A personal reflection

By possum

For years now I have talked about power and how people may be attracted to power and the people who hold that power.  It has been said

Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In the aftermath of the tragic hurricane in Myanmar (Burma) a few short weeks ago I was reading a long ago speech about power and fear.  In 1990 Aung Sang Suu Kyi gave a "Freedom From Fear" speech beginning with the following words:

It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it.

For some reason that way of thinking had not occurred to me.  I always attributed the desire to keep power to the addiction of always being in charge and being somehow worshipped, but the thought of fear being the driving factor makes more sense.  People as a whole are driven by fear as much or more than by most any other feeling.

Another Burmese activist, Bogyoke Aung San, said

Don't just depend on the courage and intrepidity of others. Each and every one of you must make sacrifices to become a hero possessed of courage and intrepidity. Then only shall we all be able to enjoy true freedom.

We in the United States today would do well to take heed of those words and the advice contained within.  It will be by our actions as individuals coming together in the greater collective that will restore our nation one day.  Fear of failure or of power in the hands of others must not sway us from our goal.  True freedom for one and all is a goal we must not let fall from our vision.

Aung Sang continues saying

...the burden of upholding the principles of justice and common decency falls on the ordinary people. It is the cumulative effect on their sustained effort and steady endurance which will change a nation where reason and conscience are warped by fear into one where legal rules exist to promote man's desire for harmony and justice while restraining the less desirable destructive traits in his nature.

In nations where just laws reign there is no need for ongoing resistance and protest.  

In the United States today we see the erosion of justice as we find our rights taken away one by one.  We are subject to invasions of privacy far beyond what our Founding Fathers imagined might be possible.  We must stand together to see an end to this falling away from our founding principles.  We have lost much already.  We must stand steady and true to ourselves and to our nation if we are to keep what remains and restore what is lost.

Aung Sang again

A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.

This I submit is the greatest challenge facing we citizens of America today.  Too many are apathetic or fearful.  We have nothing today to fear but fear itself.  We must overcome our fear and move to bring power back to the people.

Today power resides in the hands of a privileged few in our nation.  Too many of our political leaders are mired in the quicksand of the system.  We need new ideas and new leaders to show the way into a future which benefits all of humankind.  We will not find that new future if we continue to allow power and fear to be in control today.

We must act together.  We will stand together or we will fall apart.  The choice is ours to make each and every day.  Every one of us has within our reach the power to make a difference.  We must not let fear stop us from taking the actions we know to be right.  We talk to others every day.  We can protest on the streets, write letters to editors, and live a life free from fear.  

Those who find themselves in any position of power and especially those in elected office must learn to live with the responsibility power brings.  Elected officials have a special state of accountability and must not let themselves become attached to the power to the detriment of their voting public.  We, the voting public must be the ones to hold our officials accountable for their actions.  Fear of power or of losing power must not be allowed to rule either side of the equation lest we lose our freedom in the end.

Peace.

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on July 16, 2008 (boomark / email).