The Compulsion To Rule

Why are so many men and women driven to seek and to exercise political power? If you were to judge their motivations on the basis of promises they make, you might conclude that they desire to promote the well-being of our society, or of all mankind; or to end injustice and promote the rights and interests of the poor and down-trodden; to protect children; to defend the country from foreign aggressors; to generate economic prosperity; or to advance other noble ends that serve the public interest. Our willingness to accept such benevolent objectives as the explanation for a few wanting coercive power over the many, is a reflection of our gullibility.

The question of whether people are to control their own lives, energies, and resources for their own ends, or whether they are to be subservient to the interests of those who want to forcibly control others, has been with us from our beginnings. The impulse to advance one’s interests by controlling others can probably be traced to our earliest so-called “primitive” ancestors. While male tribe members were off hunting for a gazelle, one bright young man might have figured out a less burdensome way of being provided for. “Why should I spend so much of my energy chasing a bunch of wild animals around in the hot sun, especially when the other guys are better hunters than I?,” he reasons. He then concocts the following scheme and presents it to his fellow tribesmen. “I am in contact with the gods who control the world in which we live. They can inform me of how best to capture gazelles, how to protect our tribe from the deadly ‘Nine Bows’ from across the river, and how to organize our tribe for our betterment. I can pass this information on to you, and if you obey what I tell you, our lives will be better.” In such primordial ways was politics invented, allowing the few to control the many.

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