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Government Abuse of Power

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” Lord Acton

Overview

As governments' monopoly on power expanded exponentially during the last century, corruption and abuse of power have proliferated as well. The more power is accumulated in government hands at all levels, the more money and influence is available for manipulation for the benefit of the politically connected. Each election is like a giant Power Auction. It has always been that way and always will be as long as man is man.

Everyone, including both liberals and conservatives, should be concerned with abuse of power, because the power that is used against your enemy today, may be turned upon you tomorrow. History of filled with tyrants that turned upon their previous supporters, such as Mao Zedong’s purge of Deng Xiaoping, his long-time supporter who was 2^nd only to Mao because his economic reforms made him too popular.

Being aware of abuse of power, which is the objective of this gateway, is the first step to stopping it. Only when the majority of the people understand the size and virulence of the problem will there be sufficient political will to change it.

Types of Abuse

Law Enforcement Abuse

There appears to be a significant increase in the reports of police breaking into people homes or businesses, guns drawn, intimidating people with little or no reason other than the apparent desire of the police officers to abuse people. This site lists specific examples of apparent brutality. Review the data and decide for yourself whether you think there is a problem, and if there is, consider getting involved to do something about it.

Bureaucratic Abuse

Bureaucracies at all levels of government, from the EPA to the IRS, inevitably take on a life of their own. Granted power that is seldom monitored by the legislative body that created them, they live to expand that power and control, justifying their budgets by their expanding regulation of ever greater segments of the population. Their relatively independent, unelected nature makes them optimal vehicles for abuse of power for personal and political ends. Learn about some of the ways they abuse their power in “Bureaucratic Bullies.”

Local Gov Abuse

Most of the media attention is on Federal or State government abuse, while local activities go largely unexamined. Fortunately there are organizations that are actively working at the local level to end local corruption and abuse. This page is dedicated to finding and supporting those organizations.

Action

"In questions of power...let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." — Thomas Jefferson: Kentucky Resolutions, 1798

Because power corrupts, the only solution to abuse of power is to decrease its concentration in centralized government institutions and return it, as much as possible to the people themselves, allowing them to make their own decisions instead of having them be made for them by an ever expanding power structure.

Reporting Abuse

The Institute for Justice is an organization or lawyers that are dedicated to preserving the Constitution. They are particularly focused on government abuse of power. You can report abuse that you know about and they will consider whether it is something they can use to make a case against the government. To report government abuse go to their Liberty in Action REPORT ABUSE page.

You can also look at the pages related to specific types of abuse listed above for options related to specific abuses of power.

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