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“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” why do liberals believe this and what are its implications.
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| Submitted: Fri Apr 01 2005
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"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely" why do liberals believe this and what are its implications. The above statement was written by a liberal called Lord Acton, he is what is commonly called a classical liberal. Classical liberalism was pre-Twentieth century liberalism, before it was revised because of the progress in industrialisation. However, the consistent central theme of liberalism in both forms (classical and modern) is individualism. Classical liberals see humans as being selfish and egoistical beings, as opposed to the modern liberal thought that humans are altruistic. Therefore modern liberals have a much more optimistic view of human beings compared to that of classical liberals. As I have stated above Lord Acton as a classical liberal believed humans to be egoistical, and as such thought that if beings got in to a position of power and authority then the government would be tyrannical. A tyrannical government is...
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