Well of course the adage is speaking in generalities, and I wouldn't personally read too much specific into the word "tends". It's interesting to note that Lord Acton also admonished, seperately:
"And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
What I suppose we can fairly conclude from all this, is based on the same historical record that Lord Acton was mindful when he made these pronouncements, is that power certainly has a reliable tendency to create corruption, and that the level of this corruption correlates strongly with the level of power.
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Re: I think you need to check your adages
Date: 21/4/10 04:47 (UTC)"And remember, where you have a concentration of power in a few hands, all too frequently men with the mentality of gangsters get control. History has proven that. All power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
What I suppose we can fairly conclude from all this, is based on the same historical record that Lord Acton was mindful when he made these pronouncements, is that power certainly has a reliable tendency to create corruption, and that the level of this corruption correlates strongly with the level of power.