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Controversial Power

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The Controversial Affects of Power Power is one of the most important factors that affects a person decision's making and how they view their ideals. Thus, power has long been debated whether it corrupts people or emphasizes pre-existing personality traits and moral values. Power can be categorized into socialized and personalized power, with one leading to the other which is called mutualized power. (Source E) However, the lure of personalized power usually dominates an individual's mind even if they initially sought to emphasize socialized power since power can overwhelm a person's mind with thoughts of greed and selfishness. The same principle applies to how power affects a person's moral identity, it overwhelms the person's mind with these …show more content…
Recent research done by Dr.Terry Price, a University of Richmond professor, shows that power is more addicting than modern drugs such as cocaine or marijuana since it allows people to believe they can do anything and get away with it. (Source E) Ultimately, it overwhelms a person's senses with a feeling of absolute superiority. Modern examples of this are Bill Clinton's "sexual dalliance" with Monica Lewinsky and President Nixon's illegal activities during Watergate.(Source E) Also, the wide variety of options power opens up for individuals causes them to focus more on their egocentric desires such as Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln himself is the embodiment of determination, striving towards the elimination of segregational sections of the constitution and guaranteeing victory for the Union in the American Civil War. However, Mr.Lincoln treated his power almost as a dictator and often disregarded the advice of Congress since he believed his egocentric desires regarding the evolution of the United States of America were above the interests of Congress. (Source A) Also, no American president in history has ever been poor, rather they have always been in the top one percent of earners without exception. (Source E) This clearly shows the emphasis President's of the United States put on their egocentric desires. If these presidents, who are supposed to be the epitome of an ideal citizen are corruptible, then …show more content…
Power only brings out who you really are. A prime example of this is Donald Trump, the power of being the Republican Nominee has only served in emphasizing his authoritarian nature. Looking at Mr. Trump's history, we can see a change in his personality from when he was a businessman, with no political aspirations to the man now trying to become president. Before Mr .Trump was involved in politics, he was more civil and respected others around him, at least to a greater degree than he does today. However after he became the presumptive Republican nominee, he was extremely more confident in the way he carried himself, which normally happens when people are given power. However, this extreme confidence translated to extreme arrogance causing Mr. Trump to act more outrageously and recklessly. Bill Clinton, Nixon, and Abe Lincoln were also all completely different people by the end of their terms since their morals were warped by power. Leaders with power are confident, assertive, and able to move on with their chosen courses of action but power causes these attributes to become negative. Power corrupts people since it manipulates people's pre-existing moral standards and personality traits. Power's intoxicating nature is so addictive that it causes people to desire power above all else, such as Donald Trump. This desiring of power causes people to war and do

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