Possible Explanations

One of the more firmly anchored nuggets in my mind is Lord Acton’s dictum: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Another is the title of a biography: John D. Rockefeller: A Study in Power. Together, they cast light on the genesis of the perilous state of democracy. To a large extent, it’s the trend toward extreme wealth and income inequality in our own country and others throughout the world. Someday, perhaps not far away, capture of powerful media enterprises by billionaires may be among the explanations of what it was that brought our country down.