The perpetual pursuit of power.

• Author: Kreyche, Gerald F.

The word "power" seems to leap off the page on its own. It radiates strength and control. Humans always have had a fascination for it, whether in muscle cars, computers, explosions, or the power that personal wealth and/or high political office brings.

One might define power, however loosely, as "the possession of control, authority, or influence over another," whether physical, political, or moral. Power also can be understood as a right attached to a given office, and thus applies to parenthood, teachers, the police, etc. Society has an inherent power in establishing public mores, although this increasingly is falling by the boards as its strictures no longer are internalized.

Pres. Theodore Roosevelt's use of the "bully pulpit" is an example of moral force. Similarly, writers such as Charles Dickens and Emile Zola demonstrated the adage that the power of the pen is mightier than the sword. The former's Tale of Two Cities and the latter's J'accuse aroused moral outrage against social injustice.

Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud analyzed the quest for power in his description of the parent/child relationship. Quite simply, the parents have all the power and the child wants it. The only way for the child to get some is by obeying (acknowledging) that power, hoping that some will filter down from on high. At about age two, however, when "potty" training begins in earnest, the youngster learns that he, too, has some power and lords it over the parents, who now seek his favor, thus providing the child's first experience of personal power.

Alienation

It is not so different in the relationship between institution and individual. The institution has the power; the individual wants a share of it. Without that share, alienation (powerlessness) expresses itself, running the gamut from unhappiness to anarchy. Like the child, the citizen comes to realize that he, too, has a power that can be exercised in society. He has learned that power is a kind of currency with which he can "buy" not only things, but people as well.

Senior citizens, at one time a neglected section of society, organized and became the Gray Panthers, gaining pretty much what they wanted in politics and business. Social Security has become a sacred cow, taboo to be touched despite seniors being probably the most monied people in our society.

Minorities, with the prompting and backing of the government, have acquired a similar kind of power and, with it, have been tyrannizing the majority...