Is this a fool's guide to voting for the oddity...

Is this a fool’s guide to voting for the oddity who is sane and wise or the oddity who is really mad. Some might say that even if politicians are sane and wise when they are elected, power gets to them in the end. ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ said Lord Acton in 1887 (according to my thematic dictionary of quotations). I’m tempted to say that I’m safe from corruption because I have no power, but really powerful people tell me they don’t feel powerful either. On the same page of my quotations dictionary is one from Harold Macmillan: ‘Power? It’s like a dead sea fruit; when you achieve it, there’s nothing there.’ But perhaps that was a moment of modesty, false or otherwise. And what is a dead sea fruit anyway? A mirage in the desert I suppose.

This line of thought (scarcely that, more of a zigzag) started with blame and the foolishness of locating fault somewhere, anywhere but in yourself. Maybe the same goes for power? To really know your own power for what it is could be too scary. Someone might blame you for something! So no power, no fault. Totally safe? Sadly not. I think there is no hiding place. Your expenses claim will find you in the end.

So it looks like we all have more power than we think and we might as well speak out because even if we don’t, sooner or later we’ll get blamed for doing nothing. We should find and know our power and use it. But how? Write a blog perhaps? But surely that is just vanity?