Modern Machiavelli

For today’s posting I’m going to deviate from the topic of war for just a bit to talk about the political power in America. All across the world there are different governments with different philosophies. Some are based heavily around religion, some around communism, and some around democracy. Though it may sound quite strange, the current government of the United States employs many Machiavellian techniques on governance. Throughout today’s post I will be talk about some specific examples of how specific Machiavellian factors have created deep inter governmental struggle.

 

biography.com

Even though Niccolo Machiavelli died nearly 500 years ago, his book The Prince is widely regarded to be one of the most important and influential works of western literature ever (oedb.org). The book places a strong emphasis on the need for The Prince (or the governing body) to abandon principles and act ruthlessly and immorally, on occasion, to achieve a particular objective, or to maintain and expand power.

thecoloradoobserver.com

I am putting my personal political affiliation aside, as I will be talking about how the two main political parties (republicans and democrats) are acting upon these Machiavellian principles. Both parties have an agenda of various social and political policies that they would like to put into practice. Both parties have a set of values that they would like to instill, but only one candidate from one party can hold the position of Commander-in-Chief of the United States, and thus a conflict of maintaining power.

Throughout the course of American history, and particularly in modern-day partisan politics, we both innocent people as well those in power being attacked (in all sense of the word) in order for a group’s political gain. Whether it be the Red Scare of the 1950s or the controversy over Obama’s birth certificate of 2011.  These types of deceitful and baseless attacks are encouraged by Machiavelli in The Prince, which prompts the famous quotation from chapter 17.

 “…a debate arises with her is better to be loved than feared or the contrary. The answer is that one would want to be both the one and the other, but because it is difficult to join them together, it is much safer to be feared than love, if one has to do with that one of the two ” (Machiavelli 91).  

 

politico.com

This perpetuation of fear is exactly what is happening in American politics today - Democrats fear the legislation proposed by Republicans and vice versa. This creates immediate conflict between the two groups when discussing any issues, no matter how trivial. This behavior escalates as a more extreme legislation is presented to appeal to the extreme views that result from the feud. 

             
             All of this internal conflict would be fine if there was one objective voice of reason, and in the Machiavellian model, that is the prince; we do not have a prince. We have a government that has fallen into the hands of designed conflict with no one to make proper decisions in the best interest of the people

Works Cited

Machiavelli, Niccolò, and William J. Connell. The Prince: With Related Documents.

Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2005. Print.

Scott, John T., and Robert Zaretsky. "Why Machiavelli Still Matters." The New York

Times. The New York Times, 09 Dec. 2013. Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

Staff Writers. "50 Books That Changed The World." Oedb.org. Online Education

Database, 26 Jan. 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2015.