PT Any Truth Behind This Quote?

"All who gain power are afraid to lose it." Could you put this statement to be true, in life?

 

Cincinnatus supposedly had no trouble laying down his power when the crisis was over.

I suspect many politicians in this day and age would say that wielding power can be very taxing, and giving it up can be a relief rather than otherwise.

 

I'm sure it's true, but also simplistic. One may be afraid of the consequences of giving up power once one has attained it, especially if one fears the alternative, but that does not mean that one would not give up the power. Look at each presidential succession - all bloodless and I'm sure in many cases the departing president is "oh, ****" now so-and-so is in and will lead the country to ruin.

 

I think it's true. In many ways, I would say that one of the reasons that people let go of power is not because they don't want it, but they don't want the responsibility that comes with it.

However, I think that when it comes to "unconscious" power -- or power that we're not really aware that we had until it is threatened -- that's when people begin to get afraid and cling to it.

I dont' know if any of you read cracked.com, but David Wong posted an article the other day called "5 Ways You're Accidentally Making Everyone Hate You." And Number 1 was "You Assumed that Because You Were Okay With a Situation, Everyone Else Was."

This point primarily has to do with power dynamics, as Wong identifies:

"It's easier than you think to find yourself on the wrong side of this in your everyday life. You like to stay in on weekends, your girlfriend/boyfriend likes to go out. After a year or so, they give up and stop trying to get you off the sofa every Saturday. You interpret this as the relationship settling in just how you like it; meanwhile, they're so miserable that they're rehearsing their breakup speech. "But, but ... everything was going great!"​

Sure it was. For you. You didn't perceive yourself as being in a position of power because that is the main advantage of power -- that you don't have to think about it. You don't think about money when you're eating at a restaurant. But you sure as **** think about it when you're too poor to eat."​

 

I found this quote to be one of the dumbest scenes in ROTS. Palpatine who by this time is politically and militarily the MOST POWERFUL BEING IN THE GALAXY is under suspicion of being a tyrant in the making but somehow is using hunger for power as a logic to turn Anakin against the Jedi!?

Why didn't Anakin turn around and say "But your more powerful than anyone!"

 

Oh, I don't know: the Jedi Order had the power to make Anakin feel constricted and unappreciated (to his way of thinking).

 

lol The only kind of power that mattered to Anakin...despite the fact that he sitting next to a tyrant.

 

George Washington could have made himself King but stepped away from power.

 

"All who gain power are afraid to lose it." From a historical perspective, it may not be true to say "all", but I think "most" is probably quite true.

 

"But some overcome their fear" might be a fair corollary.

 

Its a very simplistic quote because it says "all" which implies there has never ever been a person in history who gained power and wasn't afraid to lose it. So that isn't true, but in a general sense those in power want to stay in power often times they will do bad or dishonest things to stay there

 

BINGO! Palpatine always leaves out the corollary.

 

Cincinnatus is a myth, a legend. That's not to say that Cincinnatus didn't exist, nor that he was indeed Dictator and stepped down from that position but....as Dictator was, in Rome at that time, a legal position and not open to extension (the very Senators who placed him there could as easily remove him legally) then the idea that he put down his power in the way that we might view it now is misleading. Also the idea that Rome would go to a retired politician when in a bit of a fix is not likely. In other words he always had power in reality. Any tales of Rome, and especially those from before the sack of Rome by the Gauls (around 390BC) should be taken with a pinch of salt and understood by their subtext - in this case that only the Patricians were to be trusted; those damned Plebians and peasants have no moral fibre like the Patricians. Any instance referring to some allegedly 'golden age' ought to be viewed with suspicion, imo.

 

Well, and this is not to disparage George Washington, I don't believe that he could have become King - not without a great deal more bloodshed and war (which, no doubt, the British would have been happy to pick up the pieces from). Moreover his resignation has the feel of Augustus resigning his dictatorship.... only to be given so many titles by the Senate that it didn't really matter any more.

Now, I'm not suggesting that George Washington became the Emperor of the USA but he didn't lose power. n fact he gained the power to put in place what he believed in - the Constitution. This sort of swings over to why people find power so diffcult to give up, Usually one ends up in power because one has fought for it, usually because one blieves that one is in the right. George Washington believed in a Republic and a form of democracy which he helped to implement. George washington used his power to do good - in other words what he did in power was of benefit to others and he is and was appreciated for that - he therefore had no need to fear a loss of power. (though he fought against the British in order to have and retain that power - the power to change the USA)

Others, like - as an example - Stalin, whose power was not beneficial to many; in fact whose leadership was to the detriment of many people from many levels came to fear for his power because there were many who opposed it.

 

All who gain power are afraid to lose it." From a historical perspective, it may not be true to say "all", but I think "most" is probably quite true.

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this,

I think to say ALL is incredibly simplistic and somewhat arrogant