Machavelli
Lately, the president of the United States
Bill
Clinton, has pursued some policies that have been very unpopular not
only with
the general public but the electorate as well. Besides the whole
Monica ordeal
he feels that these unpopular policies will effect the results
of the next
election. The presidential advisors have formulated countless
plans but no plan
has seemed to work. One idea would be to leave the
unpopular policies as they
are because of the president and advisors belief
that they are the best for the
country. Another option would be to just
present the unpopular policies in a new
way to maybe change public opinion on
them. Still another would be to just
ignore the policies and concentrate on
the election. No matter what option , if
any, should be chosen one must be
thought up quick and it must not only address
the problem but solve it and
fast. Since I have recently learned about
Machiavelli and his work titled
The Prince I feel his opinions would help to
influence some decisions for the
president and his advisors. A first and very
important view of Machiavelli
would be his view of the prince and his advisors.
"It is an infallible
rule that a prince who is not wise himself cannot be well
advised."(p.117) As
it is up to the prince to be well advised it is also up to
the president to
be well advised as well. The president’s advisors, as well as
the president,
are not sure what actions to take, which in Machiavelli’s view
would not be a
good characteristic of a leader and as a result would not help
gain
friendship of the people. Good relationship with the people is one of
his
greatest points because without the people there is no leader. The
leader, the
president, must have the support of the people and if not he will
not stay in
power long. The president is not doing a good job of this because
of his very
unpopular policies. Machiavelli would never choose to just
continue on the same
path and peruse unpopular policies. "It is necessary for
a prince to possess
the friendship; otherwise he has no recourse in times of
adversity."(p.65) In
response to this he would abandon the unpopular policies
and concentrate on
winning the election, keeping the people happy. Not only
should the leader
concentrate on the present and the future but consider the
past. " The prince
ought to read history and study the actions of eminent
men, examine the causes
of their victories and defeat in order to imitate the
former and avoid the
latter."(p.82) History is bound to repeat itself if not
watched very
carefully. The leader must avoid repeating the blunders of the
past and take
note of the victories preceding him. Another view that would
help the president
out in his policies would be Machiavelli’s view on
boldness. The leader is far
better of to be bold instead of cautious. If you
expect for the worse and be
prepared for bad times even if its not the best
strategy you will be better off
in the long run. "For if it happens that time
and circumstances are favourable
to one who acts with caution and prudence he
will be successful, but if time and
circumstances change he will be ruined,
because he does not change his mode of
procedure."(p. 121) The leader must at
all times be prepared for the worst so
he does not get caught off guard and
make the people mad. If these views of
Machiavelli seem straight forward
or to direct maybe Leo Strauss or J.G.A.
Pocock could explain these
methods of leadership to the president. Pocock would
elaborate on the subject
of historical awareness. He could help the president
understand that we have
to look to our past to help better ourselves for the
future. Strauss on the
hand would compare Machiavelli to the greeks and thier
writtings. He would go
in depth though about how the greeks, Mr. T in
particular, were kings in
understatements while Machiavelli was very
straightforward in his writtings.
After presenting these views to the president
I hope my knowledge of
Machiavelli and his way of thinking could help influence
the policies in
place and maybe help the president win the up coming election.
Maybe
after my essay is read and I graduate Southwest Texas with a
Political
Science degree maybe I could get a job at the White House and
someday take over
his job.