Can a Scene From Transformers Comics Gives Us a Guideline For Dealing With Those In Power?

 "In whose interests do you exercise power?" "To whom are you accountable?" "How can we get rid of you?"

Three powerful questions, previously posed in a comic about some of my personally favorite characters. Derived from five questions that a noted British politician believed needed to be answered if a nation-state were to have true democracy. Questions that can help people in real life address the problems of powerful people and institutions.

In Whose Interests Do You Exercise Power? For elected officials, power should be exercised on behalf of the voters they represent. For CEOs and owners, they have many stakeholders. Usually there's a board of directors, but there's also the employees and customers, which keep the company alive by various, similar and different means. Generally-speaking, human beings are in power because they've been empowered by the masses, and it's expected that those in power use it to aid, protect and improve the general well-being of those with little or no power. 

To Whom Are You Accountable? What is the check on the power? Elected officials are usually connected to political parties, who can (and have) strip them of their power, voters be damned. Similarly, a CEO can be ousted by the board of directors no matter how happy their actions make their employees or the customers. Of course, the twisted variation is that elected officials and CEOs can do things that harm voters, workers and customers as long as the other groups they answer to are pacified. 

How Can We Get Rid Of You? Sure voters can recall, workers can strike and customers can boycott, but it doesn't have the same impact as the threat of immediate removal. And for the sake of this discussion, we'll talk about non-life-ending options. Unfortunately, we're deep in an era where those in power are not likely to be shamed or experience a Dickensonian change of heart, and the biggest motivator remains to be financial in nature. 

We need to ask these three questions (or even the five original ones) of every individual and group/institution who seeks to wield power on behalf of and over the people. Otherwise, we're just asking to live under the whims of modern-day kings and queens.