I think many start out good and idealistic, then see what they're up against, then let themselves be bought in the end. The money's just too good, especially in a purely capitalist regime.
That’s part I’m sure. But to anyone who hasn’t ever been in “that game-“ it’s almost impossible to play clean for a couple reasons. Firstly- people with dirt don’t like when you’re clean, wether it’s a warehouse shift or a police department, boardroom, Congress. If everyone else does something- even a “little wrong” like taking an extra half hour for lunch- it makes folks nervous you don’t. Even if you don’t snitch (you have no reason not to- and seeming “goody goody” why wouldn’t you?), you have no “skin in the game.” If things go belly up you aren’t at risk. You have no reason to help them, nothing to lose of others get caught. You have leverage on them but they have none on you- and psychologically-
if “everyone does it...” it makes it easier to look yourself in the mirror. You aren’t “corrupt,” that’s just “part of the game.” When someone shows up and puts a moral foot down- it makes people who didn’t or won’t feel bad, weak. Face reality- it isn’t that they can’t say no- they were too weak or selfish to say no.
The second factor is that if you want to do good in a world with dirty people- you will find being given many morally ambiguous choices. A “lesser evil” for a greater good. Want to open that school? You’ll need to approve another politicians nephews company to build it. It’s “wrong” that the bids are fixed- but would you rather have no school or not have the school built for another decade? Want to get that bill passed to make sure poor mothers can feed their kids? To get the support you need you’ll have to back another politician who wants to make it legal to own hand grenades. Why not right? What are the odds that will ever pass? But... then it does by surprise and you were a part of that. And so on.
It isn’t perhaps that genuinely good people aren’t attracted to power. Passive people aren’t attracted to power. Power is just a tool right? If you want to change the world for the better you will need power to do it. Power often reflects who we are. Give a man a gun and he has the power to kill. One man becomes a robber another a police officer. But... some police officers kill by mistake right? A child with a toy gun, a man reaching for his phone? So even when a man picks up power with the best intentions- he can make poor decisions even without corruption, and those decisions can cause harm.
The naive do not understand the cost of power as the wise do. So yes- often the best person for a job doesn’t want it because they know the burden of power, they know that it means as a human even if you can avoid the worst parts of you coming through that power and having a hand shaping the world, that you WILL make mistakes, you will have to choose sometimes who to help and who to ignore because you can’t help them both, or helping one hurts the other. Power often means long hours, tough calls, regrets, lost sleep, stress, and emotionally traumatic moments you can avoid by just not taking up that mantle.
With all that said- does a “good person” avoid power? Is it “good” to be able to help but to turn your back because you know that if you help, you’ll have to give more than just $1 at a grocery check out, or a share on social media- but you’ll have to give an actual piece of yourself up? I don’t know if that’s good or not- it’s like seeing a mother and baby trapped in a burning car and only being to save one- so you make the choice to walk away because the choice is too hard, or the risks are too great. Perhaps “prudent”... but “good”? I don’t know about that.
We could say that “good people” don’t seek power for the sake of power. They don’t seek power for what it can do for them- they might seek power for what they can do for others with it. Of course- we don’t always know how “good” a person is until we give them power right? If you have someone through some magic, the ability to do anything and everything they wanted and be safe from consequences- to literally shape reality with their mind- who among us wouldn’t do some selfish things? Wouldn’t hurt anyone else or “abuse” that power? The more power you have, the more free from constraints other than your own morality you are- the more it is tested what your character is. But can we say that a person who seeks power, has power, and uses that power to selfish ends is not a “good person” just because of that? If you help 200 people afford college and then buy yourself a million dollar boat- are you a bad person?
If you create a program that finds jobs for 100,000 people a year- and then you give your cousin preferential treatment for a cushy job in your office.. are you a “bad person?”I’m not saying you are or you aren’t. Does one bad deed undo a good? What’s the ratio? How many people do you have to hurt or help before the other number doesn’t matter?
Who hasn’t ever wanted power? Some of our earliest stories, earliest heroes- and even to the modern day in books, movies, other media- our video games and more- are all power fantasies. Super heroes, giant robots, being a video game special forces operative or assassin etc. competitive sports are all about power- physical power, the skill, the strategy to defeat an opponent. Contests to prove one person, one strategy, one configuration is better than another from race tracks to track and field, the ball field to the ice rink to Call of Duty, street fighter, or Star Craft.
Harry Potter- a boy with no power or position on life taken to a world where he is wealthy, special, can control magic, time, illusion- who is now involved in the shaping and very future of the world. It’s a common theme. So many people love the idea- the fantasy- of “the chosen one” or the “mighty warrior” even our romance fiction and even many people’s real romances hang on it. Power. “Which one do I choose?” The “love triangle” and so on. Being the “desirable” one to love- having the power to choose between which person you’ll give your affections to and so on.
It’s fundamental- a quest for power. Who doesn’t want it? Isn’t that what slavery was about? Abortion? Civil rights and women’s lib and human rights? At their core these things are about the power to control ones own self, body, mind, path in life or choices. Metoo is about power isn’t it? Giving people the power to have say over their bodies? Taking the absolute power of abusers to subjugate others, to overpower their autonomy and force or cajole compliance through leveraging unequal power?
I can’t say a person isn’t “good” because they seek the power to be in charge of themselves, to have control over their lives- or some measure of it. So I don’t think it’s accurate to say the good don’t seek power. Generally it is bad to seek power for the sake of having power. But... good people also sometimes do bad things.
The power to do what?
To make changes, you need resources: public support, money, connections, etc.
You call yourself a good person but you don't step up and do shit, you can take your goodness and shove it up your ass.
Let’s say for this discussion that is true. Most people do have things they care about, people they care about. Things they’d like to see changed in the world- it doesn’t have to be national or global. Police officers, Veterinarians, Psychologists/Therapists, military service personnel, nurses, scientists, engineers, software designers, etc etc. are examples of people who help society, who make changes- even if that change is to ease the suffering/burden of one life.
Activism is one pathway to change, lobbying another. Politics, small business, volunteering, non profits, etc yes. But- many soldiers or police join up precisely because of power. They want to serve their community or country, want to keep people safe or “make a difference,” and they need the power to do that- a power those services give them. A reconstructive surgeon, physical therapist, mental therapist- all have the power to change or save lives that they wouldn’t otherwise.
If you ARE an activist, politician, leader, etc- you aren’t likely going to be effective if you don’t have power, money- as Rosie says. But her point still stands if you aren’t. If you hate to see animals suffer, hate for old dogs to die alone- if you don’t have the money, the right career and lifestyle- even something as simple as not being able to get a place to live that allows pets or figure out how to “sneak one” or the ability to volunteer at a shelter etc- you see a problem, you care about the problem, you are powerless to do anything about it- and you can stay powerless or you can do something about it. If you want to save a single dog bad enough, and you could if you tried, but you don’t- caring alone isn’t enough. Sometimes you just can’t, you don’t have the power and can’t get it. Then all you can do is care. The distinction is wether you can’t do it, or could but won’t try.
“The major problem—one of the major problems, for there are several—one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
To make changes, you need resources: public support, money, connections, etc.
You call yourself a good person but you don't step up and do shit, you can take your goodness and shove it up your ass.
To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.
To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe