I agree with the popular fictional character. Power is a shadow cast on the wall. It is more about what people perceive than it is about any real measurable force of 'power'. This is why revolutions are determined by key personalities staying loyal or defecting, because they command loyalty themselves in peoples _perceptions_ of power.
The military hold 'real' power, but so do corporations. Both can lose power with a change in perceptions. Sure weapons and dollars generally do a pretty good job of indicating who has power (bullets and currency do wonders to change peoples behaviors), but they can also be ignored as power-indicators given a properly motivated population (think the groups that followed Ghandi or MLK, as dead-horse examples.)
Does having 8 more declared aircraft carriers than the known world and numerous forward operating bases help cast big shadows? well, sure. Having the ability to reach out and touch much of the world with a full-fledged military operation in very short time-windows does portray a very powerful aura.
Despite this, 1 out of 5mil civilian contractors also shrank this shadow quickly by outing a secret program, then (the more important part) taking advantage of extradition laws to publicly "get away with it" [Snowden]. A different civilian shrank this shadow a few years ago by building a technology to publicize (as in "to make public") any and all secrets of powerful entities [Assange & WikiLeaks; I say powerful entities & not gov't, as they seem happy to out corporate secrets. How powerful the corps that they have chosen to out secrets of actually are, I have my own doubts].
I like to think of power as the active ability to change a given reality. The greater (measurably larger in quantity or quality) the reality you can change, the greater the power. In these terms, it's easy to see how power is fleeting, and perception-based. If they are in fear, monetarily in your pocket, or loyal to your cause, you are powerful. But, how fast do these things change?
The military hold 'real' power, but so do corporations. Both can lose power with a change in perceptions. Sure weapons and dollars generally do a pretty good job of indicating who has power (bullets and currency do wonders to change peoples behaviors), but they can also be ignored as power-indicators given a properly motivated population (think the groups that followed Ghandi or MLK, as dead-horse examples.)
Does having 8 more declared aircraft carriers than the known world and numerous forward operating bases help cast big shadows? well, sure. Having the ability to reach out and touch much of the world with a full-fledged military operation in very short time-windows does portray a very powerful aura.
Despite this, 1 out of 5mil civilian contractors also shrank this shadow quickly by outing a secret program, then (the more important part) taking advantage of extradition laws to publicly "get away with it" [Snowden]. A different civilian shrank this shadow a few years ago by building a technology to publicize (as in "to make public") any and all secrets of powerful entities [Assange & WikiLeaks; I say powerful entities & not gov't, as they seem happy to out corporate secrets. How powerful the corps that they have chosen to out secrets of actually are, I have my own doubts].
I like to think of power as the active ability to change a given reality. The greater (measurably larger in quantity or quality) the reality you can change, the greater the power. In these terms, it's easy to see how power is fleeting, and perception-based. If they are in fear, monetarily in your pocket, or loyal to your cause, you are powerful. But, how fast do these things change?
just my 2 cents.