Power's Great Soul

http://theweek.com/articles/544553/democrats-shameful-double-standard-abuse-power

This great article by Bonnie Kristian in The Week brilliantly points to the fallacy of the political mindset that "Our Party can use it right" and how certain powers are inherently dangerous. Power in general is corruptable, seductive, and unpredictable without limits. Your political party cannot "use it better" and thus have more leeway on not following constitutional restrictions.

Below is an important excerpt:

There is no partisan monopoly on corruption, no R or D stamp of guarantee to ensure power, once acquired, will not be misused. For every Nixon, there's an FDR; and if House of Cards has taught us anything, it's that most people in Washington will get away with whatever they think they can get away with, regardless of party affiliation.

In a 2008 speech now frequently cited by his critics, President Obama seemed aware of the hazard in amassing power in one branch of government. "I take the Constitution very seriously," he said. "The biggest problems that we're facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that's what I intend to reverse when I'm president of the United States of America."

Six years in, it's clear that there will be no such reversal.

The powers Obama and his fellow Democrats want are dangerous not because they may fall into Republican hands, but because they are inherently dangerous. As Adams wrote to Jefferson, "Power always thinks it has a great soul." It cannot be trusted unchecked to anyone of any party, no matter how great their personal confidence in their own integrity.