Power tends to confuse itself with virtue, and a great nation is peculiarly susceptible to the idea that its power is a sign of God's favor.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that those in power may mistakenly believe that their strength or authority is inherently virtuous and divinely sanctioned.
J. William Fulbright's quote highlights the danger of equating power with moral righteousness. He warns that nations, when powerful, are often prone to assume that their might signifies a special approval from a higher authority, which can lead to a disconnect between their actions and ethical principles, potentially resulting in justifications for unjust behavior under the guise of virtue.
In practice
In a lecture on political morality, a professor might use this quote to illustrate the complexities of power dynamics.
International educational exchange is the most significant current project designed to continue the process of humanizing mankind to the point, we would hope, that men can learn to live in peace-eventually even to cooperate in constructive activities rather than compete in a mindless contest of mutual destruction....We must try to expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy and perception, and there is no way of doing that except through education.
The price of empire is America's soul, and that price is too high.
Maturity requires a final accommodation between our aspirations and our limitations.
Finally, the Program aims, through these means, to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason, and a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby to increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship.
In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith.
We have the power to do any damn fool thing we want to do, and we seem to do it about every ten minutes.
Solitude is painful when one is young, but delightful when one is more mature.
Government power must be dispersed. If government is to exercise power, better in the county than in the state, better in the state than in Washington. If I do not like what my local community does, be it in sewage disposal, or zoning, or schools, I can move to another local community, and though few may take this step, the mere possibility acts as a check. If I do not like what Washington imposes, I have few alternatives in this world of jealous nations.
I am not tragically colored. There is no great sorrow dammed up in my soul, nor lurking behind my eyes. I do not mind at all.
I am compelled to fear that science will be used to promote the power of dominant groups rather than to make men happy.
Every Sri Lankan, and almost every visitor to Sri Lanka, carries a longing for the place in some small form - hiraeth, the Welsh call it - wherever they go and whatever their background. It binds them however much the war and politics might try to divide them.
As bad as it might be to destroy a creature made in God's image, it might be very much worse to be creating them after images of one's own.
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