As we denounce the folly of political power, it is necessary for us to articulate what is a proper definition of political power in order to avoid distrating semantic arguments. For example, some people may claim that a corporation has the power to harm consumers by raising prices (pricing power), which is nonsense to people who understand the nature of supply and demand in economics.
I propose the following definition to power: power is holding a right so dangerous that it would be unthinkable to grant it to everyone. In that sense it is bound to the institution of “public” law which exists above the regular “private” law applying to common mortals, thus making them subjects, and those who wield power, rulers.
Power rights can be easily discriminated from market rights in that they are cost-free. A man feels powerful when he can act at his own whim without facing any consequences for this act. At the extreme of power, a man can order the killing of thousands, or even millions, without being held accountable. This would obviously be unthinkable to a man without power.
Because power is cost-free, is it not tied down to material wealth. A man with his own private army may not have power if, should he order the killing of a single person, his army would face reprisal. However, if a man is only temporarily in charge of this army through election or political nomination, or by arriving at the front of it through revolutionary events, the destruction of the army will not materially matter to him unless he is himself personally held responsible for his acts. This makes him powerful. In a more commercial sense, a shareholder of a corporation is powerless. However the CEO may be powerful if the shareholders have only weak control over him and cannot hold him accountable for his acts. A political appointee to the Federal Reserve is obviously an immensely powerful man. In a sense, so is the postmaster. A privatization of a government-held enterprise can often become violent, as recent Russian history has shown.
Power can be quite banal, exercised simply for the pleasure of the powerful. Here in Paris it is commonplace to see motorcades carrying ministers violate traffic circulation rules. Although it makes sense to pay this cost for emergency vehicles, the work of ruling a country is not that much more important than that of running of a large corporation. Ministers do this simply because they can.
Power can be viciously violent but excused through some noble aim. Powerful people can torture others by claiming that it is necessary to protect the innocent.