If only we cold be sure of the true character of the people we choose to vote into power (Image: Logan Mock-Bunting/Getty)
THE idea that power corrupts, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely – as the British historian John Dalberg-Acton put it in 1887 – has become so deeply ingrained in our understanding of society that we hardly raise an eyebrow at the indiscretions and ethical lapses of our political leaders. We expect them to be arrogant, selfish, greedy, immoral and deceitful, and we can draw on copious examples of their behaviour to corroborate this view.
In the past few months in…
