How Does One Obtain Power?

There are many ways to obtain power.  While money does have a lot of influence on people, I believe that true power comes from other places.  People that are only influenced and controlled by money does not really mean that you have power over them.  Just because you pay someone does not ensure that they will always be under your control.  Someone that has more money than you or is willing to pay more will easily switch allegiances.  A good example of this is in the workplace.  People are constantly leaving and coming because their bosses are paying them.  This does not mean that they are fully controlled by you.  True power is not bought, but earned.

I believe that through contacts, one can achieve power.  I think that the most important and powerful people in history have become powerful because of the people that they knew and hard work.  Everyone knows that one can not get anywhere in life without working a little bit.  People of power did not always have the power that they have today and they had to have help from others to gain the power.  Through people that the person knew, they were able to use them and gain power of their own.  They could rely on the person to help them and because the relationship was stronger than if they just paid the person because they can relate to each other more.  They know each other better and are more willing to help the person out of good will and not because they are being paid.  They are also more likely to help one out more than once unlike if all that was connecting you and them was money. 

Also, through the people that you influence and are influence by you, you can obtain power.  I think that the people that you influence and the people that are influenced by you will give you more power because the people are willingly following and believing you.  While an absolute monarchy or dictatorship will have more power, the leader of a democratic country will have more people behind them.  A dictator is always looking over their shoulder for the next assassin or making sure that anyone with a problem with him is killed.  A democratic leader will have the comfort of knowing that people were behind them and that they are willingly following them.  They can control them more easily and with less resistance and cooperation of the people that they have power over.  A person that influences many people effectively controls them because they impact their lives in many ways.  Anything that you do will affect people because what they do is influenced by you.