Power of officials is now a current topic. For example, how
much power does a Governor have in delimiting and even denying our
Constitutional Rights? Can a Governor evoke perforce of some plague the ability
to deny individuals rights guaranteed under the Constitution, albeit and
allegedly for a limited period and for a more universal alleged good? Perhaps
it would be a better and more utilitarian approach to let the plague run its
course and in effect burn itself out, for we know that it seems to have done so
in the country of origin. Indeed in the country of origin denial of individual
rights is a modus vivendi and allegedly all conform to the demands of the
tyrant. Must we then also find ourselves with tyrants? Here I am using the
classic Greek expression and not the more common English one.
From whence do these leaders derive such authority? In a
classic statement by Paul in his Letter to the Romans 13:1, the author writes:
Let every soul be
subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers
that be are ordained of God.
Paul demands the Christians submit to earthly rulers and
moreover alleges that all earthly rulers receive their powers from God. Does that
thus mean that Hitler, Stalin, Mao and others derives their powers from God?
One would think not. No matter what translation we use for Paul in Romans we
are unfortunately led to the same conclusion.
But as Jefferson stated in the Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths
to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments
are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed.
The above is in stark contrast to Paul. The above reflects
the Enlightenment understanding of individualism and from whence the government
obtains its limited powers. Equality of individuals, and their consent to be
governed, such consent delimited by laws and in the case of the United States,
the Constitution. The Constitution is an embodiment of the Natural Rights so
much a part of Jefferson’s thought and the core beliefs of the Founders.
Now Bertrand Russell noted in his classic book, Power, the
following:
‘In passing by the
side of Mount Thai, Confucius came on a woman who was weeping bitterly by a
grave. The Master pressed forward and drove quickly to her, then he sent Tze-lu
to question her. “Your wailing,” said he, “is that of one who has suffered sorrow
on sorrow.” She replied, “That is so. Once my husband's father was killed here
by a tiger. My husband was also killed, and now my son has died in the same
way.” The Master said, “Why do you not
leave this place?” the answer was “There is no oppressive government here.” The
Master then said, “Remember this, my children: oppressive government is more
terrible than tigers.”’ The subject of the present chapter is the problem of
insuring that government shall be less terrible than tigers. The problem of
the taming of power is, as the above quotation shows, a very ancient one. The Taoists thought it insoluble, and
advocated anarchism; the Confucians trusted to a certain ethical and
governmental training which should turn the holders of power into sages endowed
with moderation and benevolence. At the same period, in Greece, democracy,
oligarchy, and tyranny were contending for mastery; democracy was intended to
check abuses of power, but was perpetually defeating itself by falling a victim
to the temporary popularity of some demagogue. Plato, like Confucius, sought
the solution in a government of men trained to wisdom. …, the world has tried
military autocracy, theocracy, hereditary monarchy, oligarchy, democracy, and
the Rule of the Saints— the last of these, after the failure of Cromwell's
experiment, having been revived in our day by Lenin and Hitler. All this
suggests that our problem has not yet been solved.
It is interesting that Russell uses the Chinese metaphor
regarding power, power being more oppressive that wild tigers. Indeed China
today is led by raw power as noted essentially by Russell. Yet today we see
such raw power exercised by a multiplicity of Governors, the federal leaders
who owe such power to the consent of the very people they govern.
Perhaps we should then recall the tiger of the Chinese
philosophers, and ask; which is the worse, the plague or the tyrant?
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