#146 Power Corrupts 
One-party rule threatens the power structure as well as the economy, not only within the United States, but China, and the rest of the world as well.
 
In a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, Lord Acton wrote, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  He was writing about Pope Pius the ninth in 1868.  The Pope had rigged the vote to determine his infallibility.  Ok, you’re welcome to notice the irony: He cheated to prove he was not capable of cheating.  
His full name was Sir John Dalberg-Acton, which is a mouthful, so we’re thankful that most of the time, we just call him “Lord Acton.”  He was a mid-19th century polymath.  He studied many subjects and was highly respected.  My generation recalls the very effective TV ads for an investment firm, “When EF Hutton talks, people listen.”  That was true of Lord Acton.  He was listened to, in his home country of England, but also on the continent, and in the United States.  In the book by Gertrude Himmelfarb, she writes, “A familiar description of Action was that he was the most erudite man of his times. …..his friends said he was the nearest thing to omniscience they have ever seen.”
His namesake think tank in Grand Rapids, MI, today is the best source of Christian economics information in the world.  I attend the Acton Institute every summer, I read their books, and my Dallas Baptist University students just watched their series of videos titled Poverty Cure for extra credit last week. 
 
The Chinese Communist Party
Acton’s famous quote was ringing in my head this week when I read multiple news stories, explaining how Chinese president Xi Jinpeng was taking greater control of his country.  
In an article titled, “China’s Xi Jinpeng Moves to Extend Rule as Top Communist Party Rivals Retire,” The Wall Street Journal reported this week, “China’s Communist Party set the stage for its leader, Xi Jinping, to extend his rule into a second decade, nudging his rivals into retirement and positioning his loyalists for promotion into the top echelons of power.”
Delegates to the once in five-years Chinese Communist party congress recently reaffirmed President Xi’s role as the party’s single leader and enshrined his policies as part of the party’s governing charter.”  One of my favorite sayings in my DBU econ class is, “You can change economic policy, but you can’t change economic law.”  The Chinese are about to find out that their leader’s policies are not perfect.  
Mr. Xi recently used his political muscle to take a third term as general secretary, breaking from the 10-year leadership cycle that his predecessor had set.  He has not designated any potential successors, since doing so would undermine his own authority.  This should give Americans pause, because of the remarkable similarity to President Biden’s unwillingness to appoint a party successor at his advanced age of 79.  It also shows us the corruption that occurs with one-party rule in America.   
 
 One Party Rule in the US