“Make the rules
Then break them all ‘cause you are the best”
—Prince
Though you have heard that power tends to corrupt, power also demands skill enough to make and break the rules regardless of accusations of corruption.
A moral word, a legal rule, a holy tradition, the constitution – all are mere straw if they lack the power to see their vision through.
Power tends to corrupt, not because it is forever a bad thing that welcomes the worst, but because it invites “the best” to make the rest their footstool as they contest the boundaries of what is possible. “The best” are always making and breaking their own rules as their success accrues more power. The greater the people, the greater their power, the greater their chance of corruption. The reward of power and success is new risks and responsibilities.
Power corrupts not because it is inherently wicked (recall that God is classically defined as all-powerful) but because it tempts men again and again to play God in the face of hard-boiled necessity – especially in moments full of fear, uncertainty, rivalry and war.
Consider the recent strike by the United States government against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Many people may cry “corruption” over this latest military operation – some say the strikes were unconstitutional, others a violation of international law, others a sin against the natural law written on our hearts – but could mere corruption pull off such an astounding attack?
Hardly. Think of the skill, the courage, the discipline, the knowledge, the innovation, the sacrifice involved to pull off the mission. Think of all the virtues, let alone virtù, required to carry out the strike.
Is this mere corruption? No, this is the power of mastery, the race to be the best, fated to making and breaking the rules. The American military juggernaut is a testament to America’s quality – and it is also corrupt as hell. Would you expect anything less from the most dynamic and powerful nation ever known to man? What a spectacle of human nature my nation is! I can’t help but marvel at the sheer audacity and ability of America, even if it is smeared with the corruption of its own power and success. I suspect it’s a package deal.
That said, maybe you think President Trump’s attack on Iran will be proven imprudent and unjust in due time. Maybe I agree. Could very well be true. We’ll see.
Yet, is anyone truly surprised to see the best, most powerful military in human history – one with its own well-known mastery of nuclear weapons – use its strength to stop a rival nation from mastering nuclear weapons?
One may think nuclear weapons are demonic, that they hold the entire world hostage with mass destruction and death – yet nuclear weapons exist all the same. It is easy to moralize against the bomb. Since its creation, the bomb has been an awful necessity that men must face regardless of their professed ideals and beliefs. It is much more difficult to practically reckon with the bomb’s existence. Such a reckoning has always risked conflict.
Maybe, on some hopeful timeline, Trump will persuade Russia and China to join in a denuclearization treaty, reducing nuclear stockpiles and opening more transparency over weapons development between all nations. I would certainly welcome such a treaty.
Yet, even then, I bet the bomb won’t go away, as it’s impossible to “un-invent” something. Because of man’s ingenuity, because of the best and brightest of his science, the idea of the bomb is here to stay no matter which rules the nations of the earth enact to keep safe the power of this knowledge.
Indeed, nuclear weapons are the ultimate test of power’s effects on how men make and break their own rules – at least for now.
Unfortunately, there might be another discovery right around the corner, also born of the best and brightest science, with more than enough stuff to topple the bomb’s top spot: Artificial Intelligence (AI).
I’m not just talking about the race between nations to see who can hit the singularity first.
I’m more concerned with whatever is born of the singularity itself.
Consider: If the rules men make can’t restrain men from then breaking them, how could men ever make rules enough to restrain the inhuman power of AI?
What’s to stop the nature of power from inviting AI to play God, to be “the best” while making the rest its footstool – all as it contests the boundaries of what is possible?
What care would such a power have for our accusations of corruption as it breaks and remakes our rules?
Isn’t that what the best humans would do?
Joey Clark is a native Alabamian and is currently the host of the radio program News and Views on News Talk 93.1 FM WACV out of Montgomery, AL, M-F 12 p.m. - 3 p.m. His column appears every Tuesday in 1819 News. To contact Joey for media or speaking appearances, as well as any feedback, please email [email protected]. Follow him on X @TheJoeyClark or watch the radio show livestream.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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