Comments on: “Hat” theory of public office https://www.overlawyered.com/2009/04/hat-theory-of-public-office/ Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:51:45 +0000 hourly 1 By: Ron Coleman https://www.overlawyered.com/2009/04/hat-theory-of-public-office/comment-page-1/#comment-47511 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:51:45 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=10781#comment-47511 It’s a misquote, Richard, though you are ultimately correct. The correct quote is, “Great men are almost always _bald_ men.”

Hence the hats.

]]> By: Richard Nieporent https://www.overlawyered.com/2009/04/hat-theory-of-public-office/comment-page-1/#comment-47358 Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:58:40 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=10781#comment-47358 This is not a new observation. Lord Acton, stated the following in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”

]]> By: Pete Warden https://www.overlawyered.com/2009/04/hat-theory-of-public-office/comment-page-1/#comment-47285 Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:36:06 +0000 http://overlawyered.com/?p=10781#comment-47285 There’s actually strong research evidence that power does affect people at a very deep level, turning otherwise decent people them into jerks:
http://bobsutton.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/01/it_isnt_just_a_.html

Of course there’s also the more cynical tradition, that people don’t change, they just reveal themselves….

]]>