IE, if I trust you to make sure Elon can’t have too much power, then you have more power than he does, and who makes me safe around you? Aren’t you just large Elon (Elonger?) at that point?
Not if your power is not fungible, which is the point (and also how separation of powers work). You have power greater than Elon but only on one thing. The problem is that Elon has ALL kinds of power, because he has lots of money, and everyone likes money, so Elon can simply pay people to do what he asks and then he transforms money into power.
Yeah, exactly. Everyone has a piece that allows them to have power over other in certain circumstances, but also isn’t enough on its own to control everything.
Not if your power is not fungible, which is the point (and also how separation of powers work). You have power greater than Elon but only on one thing. The problem is that Elon has ALL kinds of power, because he has lots of money, and everyone likes money, so Elon can simply pay people to do what he asks and then he transforms money into power.
This is a big part of the insight behind separation of powers.
Yeah, exactly. Everyone has a piece that allows them to have power over other in certain circumstances, but also isn’t enough on its own to control everything.