We are born free, and as a result of that freedom we become ambitious. It is our ambition which leads us to seek power. Ambition and power in excess result in inevitable tragedy. It is only a matter of time until the power which has been granted becomes tainted with corruption. Lord Acton once said, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely." There are multiple explanations that cause us to become abusive and make corrupt decisions. Many examples can be seen in present day and throughout history that demonstrate this exact idea. "In life there are two types of people, leaders and followers." Corruption and emotions can interfere with even the most dedicated leader.

Corruption has always been present. The forces of good and evil will always exist in balance. The story of Cain and Able from the Bible is a fine example of one of the first cases of over ambition. Cain believed that his power was shared with able. He made a corrupt decision to slay able and take over his power. Cain’s ambition caused him to tear apart his family and eventually led to his downfall.

The death of Jesus is another event that was a result of power and ambition. The king believed that Jesus was a threat to his power and his kingdom. Everything that he had worked for was being threatened and he had to take action. His final decision was to have Jesus murdered. In retrospect, was it Jesus’s own ambition and desire for power which led to his death? Could Jesus have had too much ambition and gained too much power from the people. Absolute corruption leads to death, such as the crucifixion of Christ.

Hop Frog, written by Edgar Allan Poe, demonstrates the corrupt abuse of power. The King treats the female character badly and Hop Frog is disgusted. He observes the Kings abuse and he realizes that action must be taken. However powerful an individual is, we must understand that he or she is mortal. The death of a powerful individual causes an exchange of the power which he or she had. Hop Frog understood this and murdered the king and his men. He made them understand how abusive they were before they died. "hopfrogs line about being a jester and his last jest.

Julius Caesar, written by William Shakespeare, is an example of over ambition. Caesar was in the role of king. He was a fair king and I believe he was not abusive. A conspiracy was formed to murder Julius Caesar. The ambition of the conspirators led to the death of the King as well as themselves. The question which has yet to be answered is is a short life in the spotlight better or is a longer life without the glamour preferable.

In our technological fast paced society we must be afraid. The intuition of a single man can change our lives. We have seen this time and time again throughout history. I believe that a poem from At Least our Bombs are Getting Smarter can shine light on this idea. ("Look at me, look at me, look at me now. It can all be done. But you have to know how. I can hold new elections, when there’s nothing to eat, I can hold off the

Publics demands for some meat. I can juggle republics, as simple as that. But that is not all, said the cat in the hat. I can get rid of Stalin; I can publish new books. I can cut short

range missiles despite dirty looks. I can do all of this, while I hop on a ball. But that is not all, no, that is not all."(Toles p.7) It is this very mindset that I am afraid of. When the author says "no that is not all" I wonder what he means. Does he mean that he can abuse his power and cause the general population to suffer?

Many believe that we live in a corrupt society. Therefore, we produce corrupt leaders. The Corrupt Society, written by Dr. Payne, explores this concept. "The process leading to birth require only nine months, but the process of corruption, the process by which he is withdrawn from any semblance of life, cover a much longer span of time."(payne 237) This single quote illustrates why our history has been plagued with abusive over ambitious leaders.

For a leader to become abusive we first must examine where he or she receives the power granted. Authority can be earned democratically through elections or taken by force. "Power itself is delegated through consent, and without consent power inevitably is reduced to force, thus eventually it is lost." (Nyberg 46) Our history has been filled with irrational abusive leaders.

Adolf Hitler is a prime example of an abusive corrupt leader. The holocaust shows us how corrupt of an individual he really was. Hitler truly was an evil man. His ambition and desire for power was so great that he could not handle any competition.

"Above all he desired to dominate at all costs, even if there was no one left to dominate except the dead." (Payne 235) Hitler’s regime met it’s end and his corrupt ways were stopped, but only after he tortured millions of innocent people.

A more present situation of abuse of power is with President Clinton. He formed a bond with his wife and violated it. He used his power as president to form a sexual relation with Ms. Monica Lewinsky. The image of our president has been hurt and he has lost the trust of a great portion of our population. Kenneth Starr, of the Independent Counsel, created a report entitled The Starr Report that discloses the illegal acts that the president conducted. "Physical evidence conclusively establishes that the president and Ms. Lewinsky had a sexual relationship. According to Ms. Lewinsky, she noticed that the stains on the garment the next time she took it from her closet. From their location, she surmised that the stains were the president’s semen." (Starr 57)

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