The Distribution of Power

Power, power, who has the power?

One may be forgiven for thinking that power is quite centralized in particular individuals.
The presidential election in the US of A in 2016, with its wall to wall media coverage, seemed to deliver that message. The theme was simply that the person elected as president would be the most powerful person on the planet.

And when D. Trump took office, and even in the days just before that, the impression was that Trump would exercise that power in a singular fashion, as if his powers were absolute, at least in respect of affairs of the national state.

The attentive masses, those large numbers paying some attention to the affairs of the US, soon began to see that there were all sorts of possible constraints on the Presidential power. For many it was an education. For some it was just a refresher course in civics.

Consider one of the first Presidential acts of the Trump. An "executive order" concerning a travel ban on certain individuals - in part focused on restricting entry to the US by people from 7 countries with large Muslim populations.

No sooner that the Order was signed, the challenges started pressing in. The State of Washington was out of the blocks first. They challenged the Order in the Courts. And now it appeared that some federally appointed judge would have the power to determine whether the Order was legit, and whether it could be enforced.In short, that Judge now seemed to have 'the power'.

The tussle for power in this US context has been playing out continuously since. Of course, it has always been playing out since the creation of the US of A. But now, the drama seemed more public.

More recently, as the office of the President has taken some hits on the this struggle for power, the President's team has been crying foul about the antics of some critics of the President. This concerns information "leaks". That is the improper and probably illegal disclosure of confidential information that is undermining the President.

Leaks are not a new phenomena. But it is interesting to observe the hypocritical nature of the responses from the key players. Those who used to be in power, and used to be up in arms against leakers, now welcomed the leaks. And vice versa of course - those who used to welcome leaks (and coincidentally were out not in power) now were loudly complaining about the leaks.

My main point is this: the leakers have power. Serious power to change the agenda of discussion, and the outcomes of those discussions.

In others words, real power is very widely distributed. One does not need a fancy title, or an obscene bank account, or a high placed posting, to have power. Some mail room clerk may hold real power - in some narrow respect.

It has always been this way. And frequently folks forget this important insight. But it will do us all well to keep this point in mind, because it will always be this way.