>Accepting the possibility that I and everyone I know have completely warped
>love lives and other relations of care -- these all involve power and yes even
>in the sense of power over... we can help, harm, betray, support, manipulate,
>influence, seduce, distract, monitor, belittle, dismiss, praise, ignore, value,
>and so on and on those we love, care, or are responsible for. Even at that
>level those relations not only rely on the power over someone and/or a
>situation but are power. Just because it doesn't go only one way doesn't mean
>it's not power. Power isn't defined by abuse of power.
That would be my thoughts too. Love is power.
Isn't that the whole purpose of love? Love of children is the power that compels parents to care for their helpless children. Love of parents is the power that compels children to adopt their parents' social customs and values. Love of one's partner is what compels spouses to make sacrifices for one another. Love of fellow members of a society compels us all to feel solidarity and thus lend a hand.
This is a very real and the very oldest form of power. Such power is quite natural, so natural in fact that it might not even occur to us to see it in that light. But when the baby cries out in the night, it is not only a plea, it is a command backed by real power.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas