Power Vs Goodness

Power vs Goodness in 2024

Power vs goodness. Which would you vote for? If all other factors are equal, I’ll bet you’d choose power over goodness.

So also, the American electorate is more likely to elect a tyranny representing strength rather than elect a good democracy representing justice, equality, cooperation, prosperity, and peace.

Why might a public theologian such as me make such a claim? When the issue is power vs goodness, good people choose the good. Right!? No, not necessarily.

Let me introduce Ted’s Timely Take: when it’s power vs goodness, most people will choose power.

Can a president with immunity assassinate rivals?

Former President Donald Trump once said: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK? It’s, like, incredible.” Now, this is a man who thinks he exudes power. Is empowerment what his supporters feel?

While fighting his 92 criminal indictments, Trump has frequently appealed to presidential immunity from prosecution. How far does that go? On January 9, 2024, Judge Florence Pan of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, while interrogating Trump’s lawyer John Sauer, asked a hypothetical adynaton.

“Could a president who ordered SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution?”

After some distracting fudging, Saur affirmed that immunity extends to state ordered assassinations. Now, that’s power!

In his first 180 days of the second presidency, Trump plans to take revenge on his opponents and install a civil service loyal to him. Now, that’s power!

The pundits my wife and I watch on TV are outraged. “Our very democracy is at stake,” they shrieked. In the contest, power vs goodness, the pundits we watch choose goodness over the specter of tyrannous power.

When it comes to power vs goodness, I am persuaded to vote for goodness. What do you elect?

What do we covet the most?

Some years ago I invested considerable resources in the study of sin and evil. I summarized my findings in a book, Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society. Among other topics, I investigated the daily human phenomenon we know by verbs such as to covet, desire, lust, envy, or by the noun concupiscence. Theologian Paul Tillich (1886-1965) defined concupiscence as “the unlimited desire to draw the whole of reality into one’s self” (Tillich 1951-1963, 2:52).

What do we covet? Possessions? Fame? Success? Sex? Long life and good health? All of these are forms of power. It is power that would enable us to “draw the whole of reality” into our self.

“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil,” we see in the New Testament (1 Timothy 6:10). This is true. But it is not money per se that generates evil. Rather, it’s the power that the avaricious money-lover associates with the money that is the driver of violence. Finally, it’s all about power.

Our lust for power more than any other desire turns us into vampires sucking the life blood out of our enemies, neighbors, and friends. Oh, yes, we cover over our vampire impulse with sweet rhetoric such as “national security” or “justice” or “empowerment.” But in the end the lust for power leads us to the consumption of the life of others. And we’re willing to re-structure the social order so that social largess keeps flowing into our own bank account (Peters 1993, 135).

The tyrant lives within me.

Power is spiritual. It may look material, but in the human soul power is spiritual.

During the Nazi era in Germany, Herman Goering among others sold his soul to the tyrant in order to share in the tyrant’s power.

“We each possess just so much power as the Führer wishes to give….It is not I who live, but the Führer who lives in me.” (Fest 1970, 75)

I wonder to what extent those who today campaign on behalf of Donald Trump’s second presidency would like Trump’s power to live in them. “Trump is leading in many polls, despite the airing of all his dirty laundry,” reports the Daily Beast.

Democratic Party leadership simply fails to grasp this. Standing up for what is good will not be good enough.

Conclusion

Is the good attractive? Yes, indeed. But, recall Ted’s Timely Take: when it’s power vs goodness, most people will choose power. So, those of us in the progressive or liberal camp who are inclined to choose goodness dare not underestimate the attractiveness of power. The public theologian has a word for this. It’s sin.

What happens when power and goodness converge? Well, we call that godliness.

PT 3216. Power vs Goodness in 2024

PT 3212 A More Compassionate America? Trump Tyranny.

PT 3213 Christian Nationalism versus the Vermin Curse

▓

For Patheos, Ted Peters posts articles and notices in the field of Public Theology. He is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union. He co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, with Robert John Russell on behalf of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, in Berkeley, California, USA. His single volume systematic theology, God—The World’s Future, is now in the 3^rd edition. He has also authored God as Trinity plus Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society as well as Sin Boldly: Justifying Faith for Fragile and Broken Souls. See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.