Power
Political power is the capacity of government to direct human conduct through legally binding commands ultimately backed by force.
Political power differs from ordinary persuasion. A friend may ask you to do something, a business may offer you a product, or a teacher may try to persuade you that an argument is true. In each case, you ordinarily remain free to disagree or decline.
Government possesses a different kind of power. It makes binding rules that can be enforced even against those who refuse to obey them. John Locke captured the extraordinary reach of political power near the beginning of his Second Treatise of Government:
“Political power, then, I take to be a right of making laws with penalties of death and consequently all lesser penalties for the regulating and preserving of property, and of employing the force of the community, in the execution of such laws, and in the defense of the commonwealth from foreign injury; and all this only for the public good.”
Locke’s definition identifies the essentials: government makes laws, enforces them through the force of the political community, and may attach penalties extending ultimately to death. Yet Locke also defines legitimate political power as a right exercised for particular purposes and “for the public good.”
Power and Force
Political power is not identical to physical force, but force ultimately stands behind enforceable political commands.
Most citizens obey laws without being physically compelled. But continued refusal can eventually produce fines, seizure of property, arrest, imprisonment, or other forms of lawful coercion.
As discussed under the Key Idea Force, government uniquely claims legal authority to employ coercion for the enforcement of law. Political power therefore gives some human beings an extraordinary capacity to direct the conduct of others.
Power and Rightful Authority
Possessing power does not necessarily mean possessing a right to use it in every possible way.
A government may possess enough power to censor speech, confiscate property, imprison political opponents, or violate other natural rights. Its ability to do those things does not establish rightful authority to do them.
Locke’s definition makes this distinction. He does not define political power merely as the ability to make others obey, but as a right to make and enforce laws for specified purposes and “for the public good.”
The Declaration of Independence likewise speaks not merely of governmental powers but of “just powers” derived from the consent of the governed.
Political power therefore raises two questions:
- What can government do?
- What can government rightfullydo?
The second places political power under standards of natural rights, justice, consent, and constitutional law.
Power Is Necessary
Political power is not inherently bad. Government cannot protect citizens if it possesses no power to enforce legitimate laws, punish crimes, protect property, enforce contracts, defend against invasion, or maintain public order.
Federalist No. 51 identifies this necessity directly: the first task is to “enable the government to control the governed.” The difficult question is how citizens can delegate sufficient power to protect liberty without giving those within government enough power to destroy it.
Power Is Dangerous
The same power that protects natural rights can violate them. Locke warned against concentrating legislative and executive power in the same hands because human beings may be tempted to exempt themselves from laws or use government for their own advantage.
Lord Acton later summarized the danger: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Increasing political power increases both the opportunity and the consequences of abuse.
Power Tests Character
Power also reveals qualities that may remain hidden when a person possesses little authority over others. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle approvingly quotes the saying of Bias: “Office will show a man.”
Political office can reveal whether someone possesses prudence, justice, courage, moderation, and self-restraint-or whether ambition, greed, vanity, anger, fear, or appetite governs him instead.
Power does not eliminate the importance of virtue. It magnifies it. The more power a human being possesses over others, the more consequential his virtues and vices become.
Power and Responsibility
Political power is inseparable from responsibility. People cannot reasonably be held responsible for outcomes entirely beyond their control. Conversely, people entrusted with substantial political power bear corresponding responsibility for how they use it.
This is why clear lines of governmental authority matter. Citizens cannot effectively hold officials responsible when no one can determine who actually possessed the power to make a decision. Diffuse political power can therefore produce diffuse responsibility.
Power without responsibility invites abuse.
Dividing Political Power
The Constitution addresses the danger of political power not by eliminating it, but by dividing and limiting it. Legislative, executive, and judicial powers are assigned to different institutions. Federalism divides authority again between the national government and the states.
Federalist No. 51 explains the principle. Government must possess power sufficient to govern, but it must also be obliged to control itself. Because those exercising political power are human beings rather than angels, constitutional institutions must provide “auxiliary precautions,” including arrangements in which “ambition must be made to counteract ambition.”
The purpose is not powerless government. It is limited government with sufficient power to perform its rightful functions but insufficient unchecked power to become the master of those it was created to serve.
Why Power Matters
Political communities cannot exist without political power. Laws must be enforced, rights protected, crimes punished, disputes adjudicated, and communities defended.
But Locke’s definition reminds us how dangerous that power can be. Political power includes authority to make laws backed by penalties extending all the way to death. Citizens therefore have reason to think carefully about who possesses governmental power, why they possess it, and how much power they delegate.
Government requires enough power to protect liberty. Liberty requires that government power remain limited, divided, accountable, and directed toward rightful ends.
