it's not about refusing to use power, it's using power responsibly and correctly. my thesis is simply that power can be used to stamp out authoritarianism. this worked well for the United states, as the authoritarians had to creep into the institutions over centuries for things to get as bad as they are today. compared to other dictatorships or monarchies, that's a very long and drawn-out turnaround. the only reason things are this bad is because the checks and balances against individuals obtaining power had cracks, and we didn't take the time to fill them.