The mere access to power, powerful people, captivates far too many individuals. Such access to powerful people’s influence can be misleading, as it often leads too many individuals to believe that it signifies a genuine relationship, a meaningful connection, a significant investment in one another. Unfortunately, many never learn the painful lessons of the deceptions of this alluring power, for it’s only dangerous fool’s gold.

Why is Proximity to Power Dangerous?

When you have an obsession with power, a willingness to surrender all for it, you become a docile body, self-surrendering to slavery. Selfishness lies at the root of this obsession. In “Activism Is Calling You: Fighting for Justice in Dark Times,” published by The Good Men Project, I posited that “Courage summons vulnerability, which places you on an essential collision course with truths about yourself you may not want to confront.” Unfortunately, when individuals fail to give courage a chance to do its critical work, they never allow themselves to experience “an essential collision course with truths” they need to face to eliminate the false consciousness governing their lives.  

Too many people have been disempowered, denied authentic opportunities to have their voices valued, which is why they permit themselves to hunger and thirst for proximity to power, for this proximity is perceived as the balm, the panacea for the deep internal wounds ailing them.

Power does not heal; it often corrupts.   

Healing necessitates sincere encounters with truth. A person must stop and reflect on why he or she desires access to power. What void do you want this access to power to fill? Have you seriously contemplated how it can fill this void if you can secure it? What are you hoping this access will achieve? Once you supposedly gain this access, how will you know it’s truly benefiting you?

Although I vehemently oppose the pursuit of proximity to power, given that many people seek it, I offer the previously mentioned questions as critical interventions to prompt individuals to pause and critically consider the implications of seeking proximity to power. A question, especially one carefully conceived and articulated, can profoundly impact a person politically, spiritually, emotionally, and/or intellectually.

Parting Thoughts

Even as an increasing number of people discuss ways to resist the darkness the Trump administration has brought to America, many of these same individuals are counterproductively embracing access to the source of the power that enables such darkness. Therefore, as you continue to scratch when it doesn’t itch and laugh when it isn’t funny to curry favor with powerful people, remember that you’re engaging in the precise behavior that legitimized Trump and MAGA. Recognize that your love for proximity to power empowers the very forces you claim to resist.       

Dr. Antonio Maurice Daniels

Johns Hopkins University