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# Power Does Not Corrupt
- URL: https://coreyjmahler.com/power-does-not-corrupt/
- Published: 2026-10-28T21:32:38.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-28T21:32:38.000Z
- Author: Corey J. Mahler
- Tags: Article, Power, Politics, Monarchy, Authority

## The Sword Is Not Vain

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There are a great many parables, stories, myths, and other such things about *power*, and most of them are wrong. We are told that power corrupts (and some fool went even further and contended that ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’); even if we leave aside the (admittedly special) case of God, power still corrupts only the *corruptible*. In fact, power does not in and of itself corrupt anything; rather, power *attracts* the corruptible — a fundamentally different thing.

We are told, from some quarters, that the possession of power is an evil per se; even if we, again, leave aside the case of God, power is still an evil per se when and only when possessed by evil men. In fact, power, being the only means by which any good may be achieved, is per se *good*, *except* when wielded by the wicked. We are told that power must be limited or curtailed; even if we, yet again, leave aside the case of God, power is still not something that even *can* be rightly or properly curtailed or limited. In fact, to ‘limit’ the power of a rightful authority is to miss the mark and to do something wicked (i.e., taking the power from the man who rightly wields it and ‘distributing’ it to those who can only wrongfully wield it); this is true, in the ultimate sense and to the furthest extent, of the king or emperor who is, in fact, supra legem — above the law.

With the foregoing in mind as necessary context, we turn now to the anecdote of the [Sword of Damocles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword%5Fof%5FDamocles?ref=coreyjmahler.com). (You should read the anecdote before continuing this article, if you are unfamiliar with it.) Many take from the anecdote that power (or position) comes with many demands and risks; this is, of course, correct, but only partially — incompletely — so. The sword is, more accurately and completely, power itself. From the man to whom God has given power will *much* be required, and he will spend all of his days under the dire threat of being called to account for abusing his power; and do not think that you can escape by not using your power, for inaction and action are not morally distinguishable here, and the man who fails to act is, in many ways, actually the greater transgressor. Worse still, unlike the servant in the anecdote, the man to whom God has entrusted power cannot simply abdicate; certainly, a king may surrender or vacate his throne, but if he does so for some wicked reason (e.g., acedia or cowardice), then he will certainly still be judged by God. If Damocles’ sword hangs over your head, then you cannot simply relocate — the sword will follow you, for it hangs over *your* head, not simply over your throne.

Those who would envy the king his position or his power would do well to remember two things: 1) Satan’s sin was envy (subsequent pride, as it usually is) and 2) the power and position of the king comes with many strings attached — or at least one very significant one. The king will be rewarded for the good he does with his power (the same as holds true for all men), but he will also answer for his misdeeds and his failures (and in a manner or to a degree that other men will not be made to answer — think of the Stricter Judgement that all teachers will receive). Do not seek any office if you are not ready and willing to receive the judgement that awaits those who hold such office; God is neither mocked nor fooled and you will surely answer for every misdeed and account for every action.

And yet we have no king. Satan has so orchestrated matters that instead of a king we have a million petty tyrants and each and every man is, in some small way, his own king. Now, to some degree, this has always been true, for every man is king of his own castle — of his home —, and God will call him to account for how he conducted affairs in his own realm. ‘Representative’ government has expanded this culpability to an extreme and equally ridiculous degree. Under our current system, every man (theoretically) has some say in how the affairs of the nation — even at the highest levels — are conducted. Now, I will not say how precisely this works out in terms of judgement, et cetera, but I am certainly willing to state that there *is* a nexus and surely there will be some consequences (and do remember that inaction is action). Similarly, I am willing to state that I would (and every man should) gladly see our current systems destroyed and replaced by a more traditional and more morally acceptable system (monarchy). I do not want the common man to receive the king’s judgement, even if only in some small way. It is perverse to try to place the sword of Damocles over the head of every man in a nation, and yet this is what ‘Democracy’ does — to say nothing of the legion of other wicked things Democracy engenders or exacerbates. We should leave the common man to his position and judgement as husband, father, and whatever else he may be (e.g., baker, butcher, brewer), and reserve to the king alone the power and position of monarch — of sovereign —, and thereby ensure that he alone receive a king’s judgement.

Satan hates hierarchy and ‘loves’ chaos because God is a God of order and loves hierarchy. Everything that exists in Creation exists within hierarchy — usually multiple hierarchies. Any attempt to flatten or — worse — destroy these hierarchies is an assault on and rejection of the Good, and comes from the deepest pits of Hell. Paradise is ordered, regimented, hierarchical; Hell is a mosh pit.

The Universe, separated from God by original sin, is trending slowly, but surely and inevitably, toward chaos. In truth, this is all that entropy actually is: a measure of the consequences of separation from God, and, thereby, an implicit and approximate measure of distance from God. Entropy can be delayed (and, in some precious cases, reversed) only through deliberate action — via the input of external energy. We should never align ourselves with chaos and its engendering force (entropy) or its animating intelligence (Satan). We must, instead, seek to be the (if often too thin) line between order and chaos. We must seek to retain what remains of God’s order and to return the disordered Creation to that order whenever and wherever we are able.

We are God’s hands and feet and voice in Creation, or, in the wording of Genesis, His *icon*; it is both our duty and our privilege to defend and to advance His good order over against Satan and his chaos. Let us, then, not be lax in our duties (again, inaction *is* action), and let us certainly never align ourselves with or serve the infernal interest of chaos. Long live the King of kings, and long live His servant — the king.