Another tale of Cold War tensions, Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” tells the story of a band of superheroes ravaged by a changing world, where Nixon won re-election, the Vietnam war was a successful military venture, and the US government has successfully created an omnipotent super being known to the world as Dr. Manhattan, used to crush all communist threats. As lies, murder, and deception begin to tear apart at the remainders of the superhero community, the question of the corrupting abilities of unchecked power create a point best put by Young Americans for Liberty blogger Franklin Harris:
While Iron Man and The Dark Knight both deal with issues of power and corruption, they ultimately side with their vigilante protagonists…. “Watchmen,” however, remains admirably faithful to its source material and comes to a different conclusion. Its costumed crusaders are, at best, powerless when it comes to doing good and, at worst, make the world a far more dangerous place. If, as Lord Acton said, power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then unaccountable superhumans with near God-like powers are not necessarily a good thing. Like a powerful central government that is able to dominate local governments or an imperial presidency that co-opts powers properly belonging to Congress, superheroes upset existing power structures. “Who watches the Watchmen?” is a question with no obvious answer.
its ok kids, the government says “the Comedian” is a good guy!
3. Goldbug or Crypto-Currency Trader Whether they have gold bars under their mattresses, or they like to list off all the businesses in their area now accepting various crypto-currencies, these people are their own special level of delightfully dollar-shy weird. The goldbugs will generally tell you that everything sucks since Nixon took us off the…
The Biden Administration and the Federal Reserve somehow believe the national debt does not matter. The spin is that spending keeps the economy growing as long as the credit card can be paid off in U.S. dollars, so why worry? The federal government truly treats Americans as 328 million “suckers.” Unfortunately, reality will hit when…
Priestly celibacy is again a topic of debate in the Catholic Church with news of an alleged disagreement over the issue between Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. I’m going to withhold personal judgment of the controversy until more information is revealed. But I would like to address the criticism of the discipline itself….
I’m writing on the first Saturday of the Coronapocalpyse. I just returned from a shopping trip in town. The laundromat and dry cleaners are open. The UPS store is open. Target, Marshalls, McDonald’s, and the hardware stores are open. The farmers’ market is selling pies. Dunkin’ Donuts is doing a brisk business in coffee and…
Whoever is behind the Laughing at Liberals Youtube page is quickly becoming one of my favorite people. A recent upload from a May Day protest by socialist democrats shows the economically illiterate liberals invading a McDonald’s holding signs that read “stop deportations” and demanding a $15 an hour minimum wage. Perhaps someone forgot to inform…
Amid the drama surrounding impeachment, both parties came together on one area of shared support: spending enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars and adding to the $23.1 trillion national debt. Congress had little time to properly review fiscal 2020 spending bills, which weighed in at more than 2,000 pages of clunky text. The legislation contained a multitude of flaws,…
and The Dark Knight
both deal with issues of power and corruption, they ultimately side with their vigilante protagonists…. “Watchmen,” however, remains admirably faithful to its source material and comes to a different conclusion. Its costumed crusaders are, at best, powerless when it comes to doing good and, at worst, make the world a far more dangerous place. If, as Lord Acton said, power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then unaccountable superhumans with near God-like powers are not necessarily a good thing. Like a powerful central government that is able to dominate local governments or an imperial presidency that co-opts powers properly belonging to Congress, superheroes upset existing power structures. “Who watches the Watchmen?” is a question with no obvious answer.
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