Tyler Cowen is amazed at the addiction to fame and power on display in Washington. I am not.

Many people — especially those who become politicians — really do want fame and power and it is amazing what they will talk themselves into to get there and to stay there.  They don’t even want fame in the sense of being recognized, in the longer run, for having done the right thing.  They want more personal influence and power now.

Why do the powerful covet power? Simple, for the same reason that the living covet life – it is an evolutionary imperative.

Every year new Congressman are elected to office. By chance some of them are obsessed with fame and power. Actually its not completely by chance, such people will be more likely to run, but that doesn’t alter the basic logic.

When the new election cycle comes around those who are not obsessed with power will have had a higher probability of doing something that reduced their odds of reelection. Thus, on average fewer of them will return to Congress. So, the fraction of power obsessed Congressmen grows.

This process continues itself election after election until you have an usually large concentration of power obsessed people in Congress. Indeed, if Congressmen lived forever, or if they were able to pass on their power obsessed traits to the next generation of legislators then eventually Congress would become completely power obsessed.

In large part this is what breeds corruption in monarchies and single party states. Under those systems the next generation is chosen by the existing power elite and in some cases is genetically linked to them. This allows power seeking traits to flow from generation to generation until you have a entirely corrupt government.

Power does not corrupt. The need to maintain power corrupts. And, it corrupts no matter how strong the moral integrity of those seeking power is. Eventually, those who are not willing to do anything to maintain power will be removed from the population.

The only way to stop this process is to make the maintenance of power impossible. To impose artificial limits on how long some one can remain in power. That of course, is not without consequences as well.