The Prince, Niccolo Machiavellli

The dis-oriented author remembers the Watergate hearings. My recollection is that one of the conspirators, Mitchell I think, referred to Nixon as "My Prince."  The reference to the prince of course comes from Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. I searched for the exact quote and while it fits it is likely apocryphal.

I read Machiavelli in school and I saw it on my bookshelf and decided to read it again. Machiavelli's book consists of advice for princes or rulers. Written in the 16th century has become part of our cultural lexicon. We use the phrase Machiavellian to refer to winning at all costs. Setting aside morality and right for expedience.

This is a timeless book — it has many obvious applications today.

The Prince is a handbook of realpolitik, as applicable today as ever. Machiavelli gives great advice and contemporary (historical) examples. For example, to paraphrase:

If upon acquiring a new territory, a prince must kill many of his new subjects — he must do it all at once. If he kills everyone up front, people will be mad but eventually they will forget and if he avoids taking their property and money, they will be loyal. If however, he kills them a little bit at a time, his subjects will be constantly wary of his purges and despise him. Eventually, on their own or with the help of outsiders, they will rise up against him.

Applied to our current political situation, Machiavelli warns that if his neighbors go to war, a prince cannot remain neutral. If he remains neutral the neighbor that is his ally, will find him untrustworthy and his enemy will despise him. In the Iraqi civil war, we are ostensibly allied with the Shi'a, they are fighting against the Sunni. We are trying hard to remain neutral, perhaps Machiavelli was right.

Machiavelli has other gems like how it is better for a ruler to be feared than loved. Machiavelli's advice pertains to princes and their domains, he explicitly excludes republics.

Machiavelli is best known for the idea that the ends justify the means. I disagree but there is much to be studied here.

The Prince gets 5 of 5 dis-oriented smileys

Purchase The Prince  from Amazon.com.