Power Corrupts: Evolution of Government and Law

1. “To the race of men were given nine rings,… men who were easily deceived, for above all else, they desire power.” The Lady Galadriel From the motion picture “The Lord of the Rings” Based on the epic fantasy By J.R.R. Tolkien

2. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely!

3. Primitive hunter-gatherers were little better than other animals in many regards, including behavior.

4. Social animals (lions, wolves, chimpanzees, etc…) that live in groups are dominated by alpha males and, in some cases, alpha females. “Alphas” eat first, they are the only members that breed and pass their genetic information on to subsequent generations, and in many respects “own” their pack, pride, clan, tribe,… etc.

5. Man’s forms of government have evolved from this “alpha” behavior, and with very few variations can be broken down to this paradigm.

6. When early proto-civilizations began, this desire for power was divided between the temporal (physical)…

7. …and ethereal (spiritual).

8. Some civilizations were ruled by a military strongman, and some by a priest-king, and some by both.

9. Despot: A ruler who believes he owns everything, even his people. A despotic regime benefits one person (or a group of people in the case of an oligarchy). Whether it be a king, emperor, or pharaoh, they are all despots.

10. Greedy despots were not content with their own territory or possessions, so they attacked their neighbors to take their territory and possessions. This is called war.

11. The Battle of Thermopylae Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, That here in obedience to their laws we lie.

12. LAW Some despotic rulers, either through their own sense of justice, encouragement from their advisors, or outright coercion from some other power source, made laws (Res publica).

13. A Babylonian King named Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.) compiled a list of laws called the Code of Hammurabi. This list of laws was based on the concept of “an eye for an eye.”

14. The Jews codified the “Ten Commandments” that were given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. Moses later explained the laws further in the Book of Deuteronomy, which is the fifth book of the Bible.

15. Coliseum, Rome Parthenon, Athens The ancient Greeks and Romans had highly evolved laws based on democracy (the rule of the people, based on majority rule) and the republic (a representative form of government, based on law).

16. England became an important lawgiver in 1215 A.D. when King John was coerced by his northern barons to sign the Magna Carta, based on English Common Law, which among other things, gave Englishmen the right to be judged by a jury of their peers.

17. John Locke (1632-1704), an English philosopher, expanded on his idea of the Natural Law (Rights of Man) in his “Second Treatise on Government” that there is an implied contract, between the government and the governed, that if the rulers rule badly they can be rejected, violently if necessary.

18. There have been many legal documents establishing laws, but the one most important, the one document that gives men more freedom and rights than any other is the Constitution of the United States.

19. To get to the U.S. Constitution many wars had to be fought and many tyrants had to be overthrown.

20. There have been many “Battles” of Thermopylae where free men have bravely stood up against tyranny and injustice.