system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Does power cause evil or are the people in power evil because it helps them get ahead?

It's a common belief that power corrupts, but it's also a common belief that evil people get ahead. Which is more true and why? Does having power actually make people evil? Does being evil actually give power? Is it a one way causal relationship or is it a never ending loop?
gpt
With regard to "power corrupts": Power simply amplifies the expressibility of every weakness (and strength) a person has. 

I am reminded of the end of Hamlet's soliloquy:

> Their virtues else--be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo--
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault: the dram of eale
Doth all the noble substance of a doubt
To his own scandal.

The "dram of eale" refers to a small amount of evil that destroys great good. The more power we have, the more accelerated the process of amplifying our weakness becomes. With great power, the smallest defect in human character is amplified greatly.

It is also true that already corrupt people can leverage advantages unto their idea of success faster. In the acquisition of power, the already corrupt still have their corruptions amplified. The two options in your question can exist together and also have their own independence.