[There] is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. (George H. W. Bush, 41st U.S. president)
English writer Lord Acton famously said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But William Gaddis wrote, “Power doesn’t corrupt people, people corrupt power.” Serving people is the antidote. Bush also said, “For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name.”
Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful than ten rulers in a city (Ecclesiastes 7:19).