Nowadays, the abuse of power, unfortunately, is not a rare phenomenon. There are many cases when a person or an organization achieves personal goals through its actual or perceived power. These happenings are especially common in the political sphere since there are more options to perform them. It is because politicians often have enough office, which allows them to commit illegal actions for their own benefit. Moreover, their powers may allow them to remain not proven; in other words, they can easily manipulate facts. The aim is to analyze power abuse by the example of the county administration in Florida, which made an inappropriate decision for financial gain during one of the meetings.
Today, politicians often make unacceptable decisions for the sake of financial gain and perform some fraud. The most common type of illegal scheme is financial fraud, namely, money laundering from the state budget through fictitious construction projects, restoration projects, etc. Also, one often carries out manipulations in the medical field, as happened in Florida, or an abuse of power, which led to financial gain. In this case, one can observe how a group of people, using their powers, held a referendum and made an inappropriate decision. Moreover, this decision was wrong in the aspect of decent politics; however, within the framework of the law, it was not forbidden. The loopholes in the laws usually become the main tool in these schemes because the act goes unpunished.
In this case, the abuse of power manifested itself in an inappropriate attitude towards the hospital, namely its financing. As informed, it was an example of power abuse on a local level (Hill, 2021). Thus, the county approved a decision relating to the North Lake County Hospital District, which contradicts normal law proceedings. Precisely speaking, it gave the district the possibility not to exceed one million to fund indigent care to qualified residents for years (Hill, 2021). In other words, authorities stopped financing an essential part of healthcare in Florida. Nobody can precisely tell if this money would be allocated appropriately, namely that someone would not assign these funds. In addition, many persons claimed about the necessity of this funding; however, it was totally ignored by the majority of district members (Hill, 2021). Thus, one can conclude that this case has similar properties to the signs specific to the abuse of power.
Sometimes it is not easy to cope with the emotions that arise in a person, gained much power. More precisely, from the temptations that appear following many opportunities to take advantage of this for one’s own benefit. Sometimes, it happens even at the cost of someone’s legal grounds, a comfortable existence, or serious problems. Therefore, Dipboye (2018) claims that a person with no actual expertise can still possess power if perceived to have expertise. Speaking in the context of perceived power, it has a similar foundation: one can wield power when one is perceived to have it. Perceived expertise is a combination of factors, which a person has, namely previous attempts to influence, the characteristic of a person, and the situational aspect (Dipboye, 2018). Therefore, the organization at the center of abuse has Legitimate, Informational, and Reward bases of perceived power, as it was a legal area, has some data foundation and financial context.
To exert pressure on a person or organization using tools of power, one needs to use some tactics or leverage. Thus, Grusky (2018) states that the terms “authority “and “power” are different; however, the first one can be used in terms of abuse of power. Namely, to use the laws of their powers in such a way as to put pressure on a person or organization, but at the same time without committing an open crime. One of the essential tools to influence others is pressure tactics (Dipboye, 2018). Thus, one can threaten the other while using his legitimate levers of influence, which does not violate the law in the literal sense. Although it is illegal, the difficulty lies in the fact that it is difficult to prove from a legal point of view. This was one of the tactics used in Florida: despite numerous complaints about the decision, it was forcibly ignored, however, not breaking the law.
Moreover, one should not forget that the concept of subordination is observed very clearly and has a great influence in the modern world. Sure enough, as Grusky (2018) claims, authority relations are characterized by subordination elements. This formulates the possibility to pressure subordinates through warnings and prohibitions, orders, and commands. The Florida trial seems to be characterized by this kind of abuse of power tactics as well. All this leads to sad consequences, namely to the corporation, seizure, deception, and fraudulent schemes.
As a result, one can conclude that the Florida case has all the hallmarks of abuse of power. An inappropriate decision was made, which seems to turn into someone’s benefit. Speaking about my feelings about this, the conclusion should be in favor of a fair solution to this situation, with the involvement of the highest authorities. Certainly, the financing of indigent care is one of the most important areas of healthcare, and its value is hard to be underestimated.
References
Dipboye, R. L. (2018.) The Emerald review of industrial and organizational psychology. Emerald Group Publishing.
Grusky, D. B. (2018). Social stratification: Class, race, and gender in sociological perspective. Routledge.
Hill, B. (2021). From the left: Florida politicians’ abuse of power. Daily Commercial. Web.