Throughout my life, I’ve contemplated what I would do with power: good or evil. Would I make everyone prosper, or suffer? From a strictly moral viewpoint, it would seem that good would be the obvious choice. Some think that the difficultly arises only once one has power and can no longer resist evil intentions..

The reason power tends to lead to greater evil is that with greater power comes less punishment. There’s less of a chance of retribution. Morality is based on justice. If there’s no chance of justice being brought to you, then you simply won’t care.

But, still, what would be the reason to commit evil? Just because you can? That doesn’t seem like good enough of an answer. Perhaps it arises from the need for more power. One way to “gain” power is to make it so everyone else has less power. The more people suffering then, the more power it seems like you have. This is only reinforced by what is mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Some could argue that you would get more power by having everyone prosper. As others prosper, the actions reciprocate. Which country had more money, the US, or the USSR?

In a very finite amount of time (life is a finite amount of time), I think both can produce the same results in the mind. It comes to a preference within the person before attaining power. Which goal do they want beforehand? They’ll go for the choice which will make it seem as if they are getting more power.

Which one would I choose? Evil. I feel as if more power lies in the so-called evil path. With good, you’re still a slave to everyone. With evil, they’re a slave to you. If I ever get a great deal of power, I’ll probably abuse it. But by then, you’ll have forgotten about this little weblog entry. Maybe you’ll wish you had remembered.

I wonder if anyone else would openly admit that they’d choose the “evil” path. I think this makes me worse than most people. It’s said that even the most evil people think that they’re doing good, from their point of view. I, on the other hand, have openly chosen a path that I know would only benefit me.

Or am I better, because I’m one of the few truly being honest with myself?