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Title: Power and Politics Author: Margaret Paul, Ph.D. E-mail:
margaret@innerbonding.com Copyright: © 2003 by Margaret Paul Web
Address: http://www.innerbonding.com Word Count: 660 Category:
Emotional Healing
POWER AND POLITICS By Margaret Paul, Ph.D.
Many of the leaders in our society are guided by unhealthy
intentions. Instead of seeking to serve the people and heal our
nation’s ills, their actions and decisions are primarily
motivated by their desire for power. Many of the people running
our country are run by their addictions to approval, sex, power
and control. Unfortunately, few truly healthy individuals want
to submit themselves to the necessary abuses inherent to our
political races - the verbal abuse both given and received, the
huge amounts of money spent, the integrity sacrificed through
the concessions, lies and manipulations offered in order to win.
Our system of electing our officials is so corrupt that there is
little possibility of attracting a person with a strong,
personally responsible, loving inner adult self. This is not to
say that none of our elected representatives are honest and
caring. Some are certainly motivated by positive intentions but,
unfortunately, they constitute a minority.
There is no training required in personal responsibility to run
for office. Our leaders are not required to heal their
dysfunctional aspects in order to become honest and trustworthy
people. The prerequisites for political positions mostly include
having enough money, enough powerful people behind the scenes,
being male, and being white.
Our political arena is designed to attract wounded people who
need approval and power in order to feel worthy and validated.
Obviously, such a person, with little or no internally derived
sense of self-worth and integrity, is very susceptible to
corruption. As the adage says: "Power corrupts and absolute
power corrupts absolutely." Power corrupts when a person is
motivated by his or her desire for power over others, and few
people have accomplished enough inner healing to transcend the
desire for control over others.
A healthy person in office who is more concerned with serving
the people than with getting re-elected could accomplish a great
deal. Such a person was depicted in the movie Dave. In this film
the actual president is in a coma and the White House officials,
seeking to conceal the truth from the public so they can
maintain control, put a look-alike into the president’s seat.
Dave, however, is a man of heart, and rather than allowing
himself to be controlled he sets about making necessary changes
- cutting money where it is not needed and allocating it into
more crucial avenues, like child care and the creation of jobs.
He even takes responsibility for the corruption of the actual
president and gracefully "dies" as the actual president is dying
so the vice-president, a man of great integrity who was maligned
by the power structure, could take over in his rightful place.
The movie is, of course, a fantasy. Sadly, we would never elect
a man of such integrity - a straightforward, honest, caring, and
financially middle-class man like Dave. Our election process
does not allow for this.
Revamping our election process would give people like Dave an
opportunity to run for office. We desperately need people who
care more for the common good than for their own popularity. We
need brilliant, creative, honest and caring people to lead our
country, but this will never happen with our present election
system. We have incredible talent in this great country of ours,
talent that could eliminate hunger and homelessness, and heal
the internal wounds that create health problems, drug abuse,
racism, violence and crime. But this talent is rarely tapped
because running our country has been based on the earthly values
of greed and power over others rather than the spiritual values
of honesty, compassion and caring.
Unfortunately, neither our government nor most big businesses
are based on the spiritual principles of compassion and caring
about the common good. I have no doubt that if our government
was based on spiritual principles we would not have the hunger,
homelessness, crime, health problems, and drug abuse that are
endemic to our modern society.
Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author of
eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By
You?", "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By My Kids?",
"Healing Your Aloneness","Inner Bonding", and "Do I Have To Give
Up Me To Be Loved By God?" Visit her web site for a FREE Inner
Bonding course: http://www.innerbonding.com or
mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com
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