The Rationalist's Power

Only a genuine rationalist can draw from the wellspring of deep intellectual power, as all perceived intellectual power originating from anything but reason itself is illusory or incomplete at best. Unless a person's intellect is aligned with reason, their intellect is of trivial significance, a misdirected tool that is not grasped properly. It is reason alone that grants the power to see the deficient nature of other forms of power when they are not united with genuine intelligence.

Since reason is immutable, the rationalist's intellectual power is likewise unchanging as long as they look to reason.  Alignment with what must be true is the most foundational form of power there is, albeit a kind of power that does not even strike many people as deserving the title.  However, a rationalist can easily demonstrate this power to hostile intellects by tearing apart whatever asinine idea is at the heart of the happiness or stability of those who refuse rationalism.

All it would take is a single outburst of anger or a momentary lack of concern for the emotional wellbeing of others, and a rationalist could reduce at least certain non-rationalists to a state of deep existential dread or anxiety.  The rationalist has a power that is forever inaccessible to all who do not share his or her comprehension of reason.  Intellectual power transcends all others, for there is no understanding of how to wield any kind of power apart from alignment with reason.

All power is indeed actual power, but not all manifestations of power are equal in significance or scope.  Some are more foundational or authoritative than others.  The power provided by reason--that of comprehension and autonomy--is necessary to even understand other forms of power in the first place.  The only way someone could wield any form of power effectively without the light of rationality is by utter accident.  Indeed, the stupidity of many political leaders exemplifies how social or governmental power without intelligence is an empty shell.

There is no power more important than that of a rationalist, even if that power is not often exploited in particularly noticeable or volatile ways.  All the same, the rationalist's intellectual soundness is the grandest source of strength possible, and only rationalists can truly understand other manifestations of power in the deepest sense.  Every other power is at best incomplete or trivial without that wielded only by a genuine rationalist.