Power over others is the cause of unhappiness in the world.

Yes, the point about Watergate, I did get Nixon confused with Reagan, I tend to do that a lot. You state in your argument that power is a tool and if used to cause unhappiness it is the fault of the user and not of the tool, which I agree with. Why did power have to be created? Power was created to inflict unhappiness, and often death. When man first wielded power it was over animals that they killed for food, weather the animals had feelings or not, I don't think death was a happy thing to experience. As man evolved, they wielded their power to inflict death to those who opposed them. We have agreed that power is a tool, so for this example let's switch "power" to a "weapon". When man created power they were not much more than animals themselves, so they used their newly discovered "weapon" as a tool that would insure the best chance to survive. It is instinct, whether it's a dog, cat, or human being, to do whatever they can to survive. Here's another way to look at things. What dose power and influence have in common? Both things can be obtained, more or less, by throwing down money, with that being said, money also wields power. If misuse of power is to be blamed on the user, then how can you blame something on another man made "thing"? Money wields power. Why do people go to work? People spend most of their life working to obtain money; therefore money has power over most people. With enough of this "money" people can "buy" power, now, the more money you have the more power and influence they can gain. Most of power comes through having the possession of loads of money. People can choice to use their money for good or bad. Why do people rob and steel? The lack of enough money drives them to do these bad things. When God created humans they did not have free will until they sinned and chose not to listen to God (weather you believe in God or not, just humor it for the sake of the example). Once humans had free will, they had power over themselves and eventually over others. Just how we cannot control, at times, our need to sin and our need to obtain money and Earthly possessions, we cannot control our need to have power, at least over our selves. Because money is power people with little, or any, money feel powerless over themselves. Power itself has power; just the idea of having/not having power to someone can drive them to do anything to achieve it. These are the counter examples to your examples of Power holders and suppressed: Parent/child: Parents have the human need and desire to control their children so that they can use them, and mold them into something that they want to be. No parents want to see their child grow up and become a killer or a bum. Near adolescence, children feel the oppression of their parents and have the human need of individuality and free will; they want to create something for themselves. Why is this bad? When a parent punish their child they do it with the best intensions, but the child, and often the parent are unhappy. Because both parent and child are aware of power, and/or lack of, the power itself is the cause of this unhappiness. Employer/Employee: I have talked a lot about this when I said money is/has power. They only reason people work for someone else if because they have the money that they need. The most that the employer holds gives them power of the employees that will do what it takes to earn it. Law enforcement/citizen: This is simple; law enforcement is hired and payed by an employer, they employer has money that gives them power over the employees. The law enforcement uses force over citizens to enforce the law, simple enough. Have you ever heard the term "corrupt cop"? Some employers tell the law enforcement to do something to cause unhappiness on the citizens, the citizens are unhappy because of the decision of the employer; the decision of the employer indirectly causes unhappiness on the citizens. Money cannot be an evil force, there is no way to live without money, weather its paper money, or a barter system, currency of any kind is just our way to getting along, thus concluding power is the cause of unhappiness.