Excerpted from pages 20-21
The Prince offers a philosophy of power suitable to such violent times, treating power in its purest form as "force and fraud." We gain and keep such power by committing coercive and unpredictable acts that are impetuous, fierce, and violent. We hold onto such power by appearing virtuous even though we harbor other intentions. This kind of power quiets (or kills) rivals and critics, inspires allegiances, and mutes the masses. Through coercive force and fraud, we dominate.
But counterexamples to this conception of power readily come to mind. Many of the most significant changes in our history--the adoption of women's suffrage, civil rights legislation, the free speech movement and its influence upon the protests against the Vietnam War, the overthrow of apartheid, the rise of gay rights--were brought about by people who lacked economic, political, and military might; they changed the world without coercive force.
One recent study examined 323 opposition movements from 1900 to 2006, in places ranging from East Timor to countries of the former Soviet bloc. Some of these movements used the tactics of coercive force--bombs, assassinations, beheadings, torture, and civilian killings. Others relied on nonviolent tactics--marches, vigils, petitions, and boycotts. The latter were twice as likely (53 percent versus 26 percent) to lead to achieving gains in political power, winning broad support from citizens, and contributing to the fall of oppressive regimes.
People resort to coercive force when their power is actually slipping. In our professional lives, people who endorse Machiavellian strategies to social life--lying, manipulating, and stepping on others to rise in the ranks--actually report experiencing less power and influence than the average person.
I have been on both sides of the equation, as an activist (who has hit the proverbial wall a few times), to having failed in a marriage relationship (which nevertheless eventually produced a well-adjusted adult daughter).
Not only that, in a fundamentalist Christian sect (which had some nationalistic ambitions for a while), I witnessed first hand what Professor Keltner notes as four of his 20 principles of power. The four he categorizes as abuses of power.
- Power leads to empathy deficits and diminished moral sentiments
- Power leads to self-serving impulsivity
- Power leads to incivility and disrespect
- Power leads to narratives of exceptionalism
We have VERY recent history with ALL four of those abuse of power principles in the former president. EVERYthing about how he conducted himself before taking office, while in office and since having to have been pried out of the Oval Office with a metaphoric crowbar demonstrates abuse of power,
In Arizona, we've had Ev Mecham, Andrew Peyton Thomas, Russell Pearce, Susan Bitter Smith... each of whom suffered self-induced downfalls due to abuse of power in one way or another.. But Doug Ducey, currently in the last six months of his second (and final) term as governor, has been far more savvy than many.
He rules heavy handedly, but has a knack for staying away from scandal. Until now, perhaps.
Since the beginning of his first term, he has been in cahoots with a Christian Nationalist with too much influence at the state capitol, Cathi Herrod. Apparently, Ms Herrod, head of Center for Arizona Policy, and wife of a Maricopa County Superior Court judge, has had Ducey's back.
Two of her signature efforts have been to undermine public k-12 education and eliminate the personal sovereignty and bodily autonomy of half the population of the state. "Extreme court" Justice Alito and his five friends killed Roe v Wade. And Ducey just recently signed a universal school voucher bill which will undermine our public schools and provide education-based oligarchs with a rich vane of gold to skim off the top of taxpayer funds that should instead be laser-focused on providing better pay for public school educators.
My vision, however, is that Direct Democracy is our SUPERPOWER. In that light, a referendum campaign has been launched to get Ducey's oligarch gold mine bill on the November ballot for the PEOPLE to VETO.
CD9 Democratic primary voters can change that by writing in David Lucier's name on their ballots for that seat in Congress. Lucier has a very long record of service in Arizona and has registered as a write-in candidate, so votes for him will be counted. David Lucier has my full endorsement.
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