Does Power Corrupt?

Yes power corrupts. There have been many real life examples of people in powerful positions being corrupt. Many times people are in leadership positions and are given power and they use it to their advantage. Just because someone has a lot of power doesn’t mean they can use it in any way they want  to. When power corrupts it is like a volcanic explosion because it cause so many problems and the power is being corrupted for so long finally it burst and the person holding the power gets in trouble.   The leaders who hold the power take advantage of their followers by using the power in ways it should not be used.

                Some specific examples of when power corrupts is shown in professional athletes, rulers, and bosses. An example of how it happened to a professional athlete was Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods thought that since he was a professional athlete and had power and control that he could treat women poorly and be dishonest and unfaithful to his wife. He treated them poorly but thought that since he was famous and had power he could do that without anyone caring. This causes huge controversy for a long period of time because people disagreed with this and frowned upon it. This had a huge impact on Tiger Wood’s reputation and he lost many fans due to this misuse of his power. Another person was Sheila Dixon. She had a recent incident where she stole money that was being donated for the poor. She put this money on gift cards and was using the gift cards for her own personal needs. The government found out about this and disapproved. Sheila Dixon thought that since he was very high in leadership it wouldn’t be a problem if she did this and that no one would yell at her because she had so much power. She was wrong and she got in a lot of trouble because of this. She used her power in a very poor way to get what she wanted and needed. This can happen to people when they are given a lot of power or have had power for such a long period of time. This causes many problems and a lot of times cause the person to lose all of their power and their followers. People will start to rebel against them because they don’t want to listen to someone who misuses their power in a bad way for them. This happens very often, some cases more serious than others, and can cause a lot of serious problems. A less serious case of this happening is when you are on a sports team and there is a captain. The captain may misuse their power and the power will corrupt. This happens because the captain will think they are in charge of everyone and can make them do things they don’t have the right to do. For example they may harass other players by doing things they aren’t allowed to do. Also, another example is when parents leave their children with a babysitter. The babysitter may get out of hand and tell the child to do things like clean their house when really they don’t have the right to do that. The power is becoming corrupt because they are using it in the wrong ways.

                Power does corrupt very often because some leaders do not know how to properly handle their power and control. They use it to their own advantage and think it is okay because they are in charge or they are the leaders. This is not true and often each leader has a leader of its own so they can get it trouble. When power become corrupt it causes many problems some in which the person who holds the power looses all the power they have because they don’t know how to use it properly.