Lord Acton, Ian Wishart and Helen Clark

Well, Lord Acton wrote:

“I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”

It is the emphasised words which are most often quoted today. Acton wrote his dictum in response to the promulgation of papal infallibility of which he was no fan, though an influential Catholic layman himself.

The sentiment is however as relevant today in the context of any person, especially one in the privileged position of being in a leading governance position, e.g. a politician, particularly one who is seen by many as being overweening.

Ian Wishart, he of Investigate magazine and John Tamihere interview ‘fame’ has written a book, Absolute Power, about Helen Clark. This is not a hagiography such as Brian Edwards biography of some years back.

It attempts, Adam understands to establish just who Helen Clark really is.

Inventory2 has an initial mini-review of the book, at KeepingStock.

Adam would draw attention also to his recent post on Hubris Syndrome, which he thinks has broken out in New Zealand. Indeed, he suggests that Bill Ralston in his Herald on Sunday column has identified a collective outbreak afflicting the entire Labour Government.