Power: You can't please people with its use, you can't please people without its use.

Ask anybody what they wouldn't do for a million euros or dollars, and they will give you a very short list of things. This list will include all the extreme things one can imagine-exposure to radioactive substances, brain surgery, Chinese water torture, etc. However, its a well documented fact that when people win large sums of money in lotteries, a high percentage become quite adept at destroying their lives. And, we can imagine the pressures that suddenly come upon them. Rags to riches sports figures also experience this pressure. Everyone around them expects to benefit from their good fortunes or, in the case of people further removed from them, expects them to create world peace with their millions. If they put their money into a mutual fund, a savings account or the stock market, no one is happy. If they give to a charity, some complain about their choice. If they give some to one family member, others expect just as much.
Power like money, is no simple blessing-be careful what you wish for! The United States faces a similar issue as the rags to riches sportsman. It has found itself, once poor, inconsequential upstart nation, on top of the world. What shall it do now? The imperial urge is often quite innocent. Not only might you want to help the world with your new power, you are in fact expected to! There is a kind of necessity involved, as Thucydides' seems to imply about imperial Athens. One might see the same sort of irresistible impulse in the Roman and British empires, as well as other historical empires.
It reveals some root expectations in the nature of human beings-even people who claim there exists no such thing as a "natural law" or "eternal moral order". We expect those with power to use it for the benefit of others, even though we suspect they will use it selfishly. Just as we might expect a beautiful woman to be gentle and innocent, even though we suspect she might be manipulative. You can't win in the realm of public opinion, when you have power. All you can do is take your risks and dare-dare to make a better world.