Division of Power

There is no leader in the world that does not leave something to be desired. It is fundamental that governments have a division of powers because of the fallibilities and vulnerabilities in the character of leaders and mere mortals. The Gods make even greater mistakes!

There are few situations where the concentration of power does not lead to the abuse of power. In the United States, where the division of power amongst the executive, the judicial and the legislative is reasonably balanced, there isn’t a president, congressman or judge that can rise with limitless power for too long without being denounced and brought down in the process. That is not the case in many Latin American and African countries. The presidents, congressmen and judges in our countries get rich, exact revenge on whomever they please and abuse their positions without being punished or limited by counterbalancing institutions.

Today, left or right wing political regimes no longer exist. What exists today are political regimes where there is a balance of power and regimes were the concentration of power in some individuals is out of control.

Jung, the great XX century thinker and psychiatrist describes in Psychoanalysis of History, how humans tend to abandon the responsibility of deciding their own destiny in exchange for getting closer to any leader that offers to ease their lives. That is why totalitarian leaders like Hitler and Mussolini emerge. In behavioral economics the phenomenon is known as the insider gain vs. the outsider loss. We tend to sell our soul to the devil, to be insiders. We are born with more fear for life than love for liberty. Love for liberty is acquired and strengthened through the individual’s training and his taking responsibility over his individual decisions. It is natural to get close to those that offer us protection. But character, like muscles, grows weak when stop carrying the weight of our responsibilities. Fear is a powerful deterrent for initiative and the greatest obstacle to personal and community fulfillment.

Countries without institutional controls, where anyone that holds public office can do what they please without division of powers to limit them, are destined for failure. Failure for a country is a future in which the citizens grow poorer both economically and spiritually, lose liberties and lose the possibility of carrying out their lives in equality and mutual respect with other members of the human collective. By losing international respect and debilitating as an ideal continent, one falls in the hands of opportunistic and incompetent groups. These opportunistic groups only look out for their short-term gains.

There is no greater crime in the history of humanity than that of a ruler that destroys society’s balance of powers, because the destruction of this balance destroys the motivation for personal improvement and taking responsibility for our actions, and it destroys the political infrastructure and the souls of our people. Without a division of power we end up poor, weak and divided, like a body without an immunological system, vulnerable to any invading infection.