Do people wield power, or does power wield (change) the people who hold it?

John suggested in 2013 that power wields people more than people wield power. Hank adds in 2018 that having power makes you want more power, and in 2024 that thoughtful people with power face brutal compromises and attacks.

Axis: power wields the people who hold it ... people wield power

Positions by date: 3 records in 3 videos. The position was refined (2024), never reversed, in these records.

John

date	how	position	video
2013-08-13	first on record	John: rigged-Monopoly results suggest people do not wield power so much as power wields them, so even very powerful people are not that powerful.	Shailene's Hair, Unfair Monopoly, and the Just World Fallacy 00:01:30

Hank

date	how	position	video
2018-01-26	first on record	And having power makes you want to use your power to get more power.	I Wrote a Book. I WROTE A BOOK. How did I do that? 00:02:53
2024-07-05	refine	In a comment Hank, having had power himself, says thoughtful people with power face brutal compromises and attacks, and are disliked partly because power keeps them from acting as we would.	Should I Run for President?? creator comment