The Anderson Papers [antikvár]

A Word about Power and the Press Presidents and policy-makers, like other people, can be what they choose to be. They can serve the nation or they can serve themselves. For many men in public life the mere possession of power is an end in itself. For them the struggle to the top is expensive, both in dollars and a more precious currency—human integrity. The values of even the most honorable are under constant assault, like boulders on an ocean beach. Erosion seems inevitable. Power is Washington's main marketable product. Those who come to the capital to serve the government, and those who come to manipulate the servants, strive for power to accomplish their goals. Power is the driving force that brings together people of different philosophies and varying interests in the constantly evolving battle for control. Alliances are conveniently arranged and are seldom permanent, shifting with, the pressures of the times and the advantages of the moment. Honest men will lie and decent men will cheat for power. Few reach the political pinnacles without selling what they do not own and promising what is not theirs to give. In the great and grueling quest for power it is easy to forget that power belongs not to those who possess it for the moment but to the nation and its people. While power need not be corrupting, it is impossible to deny that the American political system invites corruption. Men must