In the book "Liberty and Power" written by Lord John Emerick Edward Dahlberg-Acton, an intellectual historian from the United Kingdom, the original sentence is: "Power corrupts. Absolute power leads to absolute corruption. ”

1. Sentence meaning

Acton believes that whether it is the power of believers, the power of princes and nobles, or the power of the people, they represent the people. The power that represents money, or the power that claims to represent natural law, "progressive power", justice and peace, and "the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people"...

In short, no matter what kind of power it is, it represents Regardless of whether it is representative or not, as long as it is backed by violence (which is inevitable), as long as it loses checks and balances, it will inevitably become "absolute power", and after becoming "absolute power", it will inevitably There will be a tendency towards cruelty, corruption and injustice. In his view, the most terrifying situation in political life is that "there is no separation between morality and religion, and there is no separation between politics and morality; in religion, morality, and politics, there is only one legislator and one authority." More than a hundred years later, we will definitely have some feelings about this.

Looking at today's society, with a reasonable power system, low-paid officials cannot use their power to seek rent-seeking corruption; with an irrational power system, high-paid officials cannot resist corruption. In view of the current legal environment, increasing the power and functions of the anti-corruption department may not only be ineffective but also counterproductive. Therefore, improving the power system is one way of thinking.

2. About the author

John Emeric Edward Dahlberg-Acton (1834-1902), British historian and professor of history at Cambridge University , political thinker, liberal.

3. Introduction to the work

The first part of "Freedom and Power" "Freedom and Power" is a collection of Acton's essays on the philosophy of political liberalism and is also the essence of his thought. Acton hopes to inject religious values ??into secular life and secular values ??into religious life, so as to achieve the reconciliation or transcendence of conflicting things. The second part, "Proverbs", contains Acton's nineteen themed proverbs.