POWER: What Is It, Really? And Why Is Sharing Power So Scary?

Power. POWER. We argue about it, fight for it, use it, abuse it, cling to it, avoid it.

But what, exactly, are we arguing or fighting about, and using, abusing, clinging to, or running from?

These days, there are so many complex and unnerving issues facing us, as nations and societies, that it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture(s). And one of the crucial ‘big pictures’ we’ve been losing sight of has to do with the meaning and fair distribution of power.

We can see just how thorny the issue of shared power is by noting that adding that one little word ‘fair’, above, totally changed my statement — and made it quite unpalatable for many. Sadly, to many people the very idea of ‘shared’ or ‘fairly distributed’ power is anathema, anti-capitalist, or even anti-American.

What IS power, anyway?

To me, that’s a telling symptom of the pervasive and dangerous misunderstandings most of us carry around about that most basic of human issues: power. So let’s take a moment to explore and define what we’re talking about here.

I’m not going to bore you with all the dictionary definitions of power; rather, I’m going to propose my own, very simple definition: power is the focus and ability to get things done and/or control resources. That applies both to human beings and to things like our electric ‘power supply,’ where humans provide the focus and resources and the actual electricity provides the juice, so to speak, to accomplish things.

At the most basic level, power revolves around getting things done — including controlling resources — and since human society involves many, many things that need to get done, one would think that shared power and group power would be greatly valued and encouraged. But that’s often (and very obviously) not true.

Instead, people seem to get trapped in an ego-centered, individualistic version of ‘power,’ in which the very idea of sharing power or (gasp!) cooperating with our fellow citizens and other human beings is seen as ‘weak’ or somehow disempowering. According to this ego-driven view, sharing power steals power away from the sharer.

Of course, many writers, commentators, and sociologists have written about this socially-sanctioned belief system, which goes by many names: the ‘zero-sum game,’ ‘winner-take-all,’ hierarchical thinking, power over, and even capitalism itself. The main thing all these ideas or approaches have in common is the focus on, and reverence for, the ‘separate’ human ego and its selfish drives and desires.

According to all of these varied, yet basically very similar, approaches to life, human existence is a vast, violent, and ultra-competitive mine field, full of dangers and potential crises — so much so that it’s ‘every man (sic) for himself (sic).’

This viewpoint ultimately boils down to fervent belief in exerting power over other people, and making damn sure you aren’t trampled and left in the dust. And the ultimate, horrific end point of ‘power over’ thinking is, of course, human slavery: owning other people, and forcing them to do your bidding and do all your work for you.

But if out-and-out slavery isn’t possible or allowed — then you can still ‘employ’ wage slaves who work long, hard hours for paltry wages.

That’s the preferred capitalist way.

Modern society and the ‘power over’ mindset are in deep, perpetual conflict

All these self-centered ‘power over’ viewpoints — which represent the underpinnings of most of Western and especially American society — have an intrinsic, strong aversion to, and deep fear of, interpersonal sharing and the ‘fair’ distribution of power.

The ‘power over’, zero-sum mindset always views life as a brutal competition that must be won — after which the winnings are protected, hoarded, and of course never shared — so for these folks the very idea of ‘fair’ distribution of power and wealth is both laughable and terrifying.

This brings us to the present horrendous and frightening state of world politics, and of many societies all around the globe. How so? Well, to my mind it’s pretty simple: most ‘modern’ societies are founded to some degree on the sharing of power and on somewhat democratic principles, meaning that the inherent value of human life is acknowledged, as are basic human rights.

But these crucial foundations of ‘modern’ society directly conflict with the basic beliefs underlying all the zero-sum and ‘power over’ variations that capitalist societies, in particular, rely on and heavily promote.

Here we can clearly see the basic, fundamental philosophic, economic, political, and moral conflict that rages and boils just beneath the surface now, in societies and nations all around the world — and is starting to boil over.

We say we want to live in ‘modern’ societies, and always say we support freedom, fairness, and human rights — but when push comes to shove, we often end up backsliding and supporting more of the same old unfair, oppressive, super-competitive, power-grabbing laws and policies.

What I’m getting at is: Humanity is now embroiled in a world-wide, intensifying conflict over the meaning of freedom, human rights, power, and shared power. The existing powers-that-be are entrenched in the egoistic ‘power over’ model, in general, and have no interest whatever in changing their ways and moving toward a truly democratic ‘shared power’ model.

Thus, we’re seeing rising autocracy, plutocracy, and fascism all across the globe, while the forces of democracy, freedom, egalitarianism, and economic fairness are being pushed back, severely limited, or even squelched entirely. (But this is a temporary setback; more on this later.)

It’s no exaggeration to say that almost all of the major social and political conflicts taking place around the world now are about just one thing: Power, and the use, abuse, or sharing of power.

The tyrants’ and oppressors’ days are numbered

The huge problem all the autocrats, bullies, dictators, and kleptocrats are facing — even though most of them don’t or won’t recognize it yet — is that most peoples and societies around the world have gotten a taste, now, of delicious freedom and social empowerment, and in some cases have already gotten used to having more freedom and power.

Having seen, felt, and experienced the many benefits of shared power and fairer socioeconomic systems, most people want humanity to keep moving forward, and under no circumstances are willing to return to the top-down, power-over, autocratic ways favored by these hubris-ensnared, dictatorial ‘leaders.’

Much of humanity has already experienced and enjoyed many of the social and economic benefits of ‘modernity’ — and we’re not willingly going backward to serfdom and pre-modern lack of freedom, human rights, and basic fairness.

Today’s tyrants, oppressors, and hate-mongers are nothing more than temporary, violent usurpers. They are usurping positions of trust and power, and pushing people aside or downward who won’t put up with being shoved aside or pushed down for very long.

The tyrants, oppressors, and hateful demagogues don’t know it yet, since they’re currently on a (ferocious) roll — but their days in power are numbered.

The vast, onrushing tide of history has already moved past them, and left them behind — and that tide is inexorably moving toward shared power for the people. These awful ‘conquerors’ are a brutal anachronism — and a nasty, unwanted reminder of where we’ve come from.

The only thing left to happen, whether it takes years or decades or even a century … is their actual, inevitable downfall.

As 70s leftists and radicals were fond of saying (or shouting): “All power to the people!”

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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