[Sethomas]

So, I like history a lot. You all know this. However, I run into this problem a lot and it's something that intrigues/perplexes me about human nature--especially through historical hindsight--that I simply cannot relate to or understand. Why do people pursue power to such ludicrous extents? I understand that people want the greatest material comfort they can acquire and most societies do a good job of instilling a desire for dynastic perpetuity. Most cultures, historically, impart a desire for post-mortem continuity through having a legacy of reputation. What comes to mind is when Julius Caesar was traveling through Iberia and weeping in a perceived sense of failure when he came to a statue of Alexander the Great because Alexander achieved such great "power" and legacy by the age at which Caesar saw himself as having modest accomplishments.

Beyond that, I cannot fathom why billionaires would literally instigate wars to add larger numbers after the decimal points in their net value. I cannot imagine why people would act atrociously to gain power that doesn't supplement their material comfort when they're obviously aware that history will deride them for it.

I've noticed this tendency as someone who entered the Catholic faith notably after the cradle without having been given the normal cultural backdrop that comes with typical American catholicism. Being catholic will ensconce a powerful interest in the middle ages but a powerful interest in the middle ages to a non-Catholic will ensconce a powerful contempt of the religion. Catholics with an awareness of history do inevitably have to come to terms with the fact that the institution behind their faith acted in the Machiavellianism typical of the time, but that it had a social obligation to transcend this human ugliness made such transgressions overbearingly egregious. Alexander Borgia was in good company as a renaissance administer of Realpolitik, but taken as Pope Alexander VI he was an absolute monster. Hence, why did medieval popes (especially those throned in Avignon) pursue "power" with such overbearing abandon of scruples?

I am open to any interpretation of the Bush administration. I honestly don't know how to make that call. Extreme evil genius with disregard for sane public policy or reckless stupidity with too much investiture? Somewhere between, I expect and hope, but where? At any rate, it's impossible for me to comprehend them because I cannot relate to this idea of absolute and superfluous power they hunt at the known expense of being loathed.