Blog Post for the Week of December 2

I really enjoyed our Simon Bolivar discussions this week. Interestingly, when I was in Cartagena I saw the house he stayed at during his time there. I didn't know much about his history at the time, but I still thought it was cool to see the house such an important figure stayed at. Having heard his life story, though, it reminds me of the idea that power corrupts. I think this Bolivar provides another great example of someone with good intentions and who did a lot for his country, but when he came into power he just couldn't let go. It kind of reminded me of Animal Farm by George Orwell. In the story, the pigs led a revolt of all the animals against the humans and removed them from power. The pigs then became the leaders of the animals, but they gradually took more and more power to the point where the animals no longer could see a difference between the pigs and the humans, as the pigs had completely filled the human role. It seems Bolivar did the same thing. He ousted the royalists and assumed leadership in the vacuum of power. However, like the pigs, instead of working with the lower classes to form an appropriate governing style, he named himself ruler for life, or dictator. I think this shows that many times, when someone not in power is suddenly given lots of power, it tends to make them power hungry, which can lead to a sad ending.

Comments

  1. Médar SerrataDecember 4, 2021 at 2:41 PM

    Thank you for your post, Joe. I like your comparison between Bolívar's tory and George Orwell's novel. However, in "The Jamaica Letter," which was written before he came to power, Bolívar already suggested that "the events on the [South American] mainland have demonstrated that perfectly representative institutions are not appropriate to our character, our customs, and our current level of knowledge and experience" (23). Could this be seen as evidence that his decision was not the result of corruption but of a sincere (although misguided) interpretation of the South American reality?

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