After reading Machiavelli’s main points in “Traits of the Prince”, I would remix his traits and give these following advices to an up-and-coming presidential candidate:
• If you’re going to be generous, be generous to all types of people. Don’t be bias over color, race, religion, etc.
• Reserve cruelty for traitors and the enemy.
• Keep a balance of being feared and being loved. If you’re too loved, show something that will make you feared and vice versa.
• Follow the five qualities (merciful, faithful, humane, trustworthy, and religious) as meaningfully as you can instead of just “appearing” to follow them. If you’re taking the time to pretend, might as well go the extra mile and try to be genuinely like it.
• Limit the festival rewards you
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However, it has been mentioned in the news that Donald Trump seems to be the most Machiavellian of all due to his brashness and challenging of the current form of the government (Cuzan 2016). A specific Machiavellian principle I’ve seen Trump put to play is the “it’s better to be feared than love” idea. Due to his brashness not only with his words but with his ideal policies, a lot of people have been afraid of the absurdity and possibility that what he says may actually happen. The fear seemed to work but only because of the fact that his followers loved how he made others fear. The people who fear him are different from the people who love him so it is unclear if it is better to be feared or loved. Another principle he used is knowing “how to manipulate the minds of men by shrewdness.” He accomplishes this by being politically incorrect in the way he speaks. This seems to motivate some of his followers, but overall, people just seem to be offended about the things a future possible leader does not filter what he tells the whole world. It gives him a dictator effect, and that means the Machiavellian practices he utilized were not effective. In the grand scheme of things, Machiavellian practices do not seem to work as well in modern United States of America. This may be because the advice is made for a prince instead of a president
A leader who is feared by his people has much more control than a leader who is loved by his people. From the beginning of governments hundreds of years ago, leaders and government rulers have discovered that fear is what will keep you in power and prevent chaos in your country. The book, The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli explains this. In one of his quotes, he says "Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.”
Throughout The Prince, Machiavelli encourages the idea that a fear leader is a good leader. Machiavelli makes the point that a good leader knows that it is, “far safer to be feared than loved” (Machiavelli 43) because love allows for weakness. It is easy to keep people under control and in line when they fear their leader because they do not want to have to face consequences that come with “doing wrong”. When a leader is loved, some many look at this as a weakness. Those who fear their leader are is less likely to curate rebellions and revolts because they know that their leader is not afraid of applying punishment. When a ruler is too kind to their subjects it leaves them vulnerable and they are easily taken advantage of, which threatens their position. For a good leader should, “desire to be accounted merciful and not cruel”, and needs to,
In Chapter seventeen, Machiavelli discusses whether it is better to be loved than feared or the reverse. Princes need to keep a balance of merciful and cruel acts to keep disorder from arising (Machiavelli 134). “..it is much safer to be feared than loved...”(Machiavelli), to be loved is also important if one is a ruler of other people. “Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred..” (Machiavelli 134), princes should be respected and honored through their actions.
Machiavelli believe that fear allows a ruler to be in power, but does not mean they he is hated. Whereas love can lead to hatred because a ruler should not inspire love in others because they will turn against them once they do not fear their
In his landmark political treatise The Prince, Italian diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli put forth a framework for ruling a people that is at once derided and deferred to even today. The highly controversial ideology calls for a firm, even ruthless form of leadership that commands respect through any means necessary. Machiavelli allows even for the use of fear, violence and evil where appropriate. But it is in defining where these tactics are appropriate that we enter a discussion about the American political process. In one respect, our electoral cycle differentiates the United States significantly from the feudal hierarchy of 16th Century Italy. In another respect though, a reflection on the wholesale corruption of the former Bush administration may suggest otherwise. Today, it may be argued that many conservative and Republican political figures closely resemble Machiavelli in their espoused extremism but in fact, differ from the philosopher in their overall intentions. Where Machiavelli underscored his framework with an understanding that rulership is for the greater good, regardless of the measures employed to maintain this, self-interest and greed are a common presence in today's political process.
A famous aristocrat named, Niccolo Machiavelli, wrote the book, “The Prince (1513), his most celebrated work, was a general treatise on the qualities the prince (that is, ruler) must have to maintain his power” Jacobus (84). Within this essay, he writes about the “Qualities of the Prince,” which is a guide for princes and future princes to follow, in order to be successful and keep their power. Machiavelli is very practical in his way of thinking, and doesn’t recommend princes to be good, on the contrary he suggests for them to be very practical. He states they should ensure power by direct and effective means. Modern politicians are likely to succeed by following most of Machiavelli’s recommendations. One
It would also decrease the prince’s ability to remain in power and maintain power. Had former president Bush not use the allegations of Iraq’s nuclear program, he would have been hated by public. Machiavelli states that the Prince should be neither loved nor hated. Therefore, the Prince while making decisions should make sure those decisions won’t result in disapproval from his subjects. That it is better for the prince to be feared than hated.
Should a leader be feared or loved? Machiavelli goes into depth about how it is better to feared than loved. He states that, ¨Well one person would like to be both; it is difficult for one person to be feared and loved.” By suggesting this, he is saying this is because a ruler that is well-loved is not always well-respected and is at risk of losing control. By instilling fear while at the same time avoiding unnecessary cruelty, the ruler that is able to maintain power and perhaps at the same time still have the respect of his people. In the reading China's Golden Age, both fear and love are used, but in different ways.
In The Prince, Machiavelli explains what a good and successful prince should be like. He advocates a strong, cutthroat authority figure and encourages the winning of power by any means necessary. The main theme in The Prince is that mob rule is dangerous, for people know only what is good for themselves and not what is good for the whole. The common people, in Machiavelli’s view, “are ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit; while you treat them well, they are yours”. He believes that these commoners should be
In March of 2010, two pieces of legislation were enacted, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (HCERA). The ACA’s intent is to expand Medicaid coverage to millions of low-income Americans previously uninsured or underinsured. HCERA was passed after the ACA as a way to make provisions for penalties and payment programs to physicians to name a few. Some of the provisions outlined in the ACA on Affordable Care Act | Medicaid.gov include:
Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the same year that Baldur von Schirach became the Youth Leader of the German Reich. There were divisions of girls and boys in the youth including The Hitler Youth, The Young People, and The League of German Girls which included “Faith and Beauty” (Epstein 74). The Nazi party successfully mobilized the German young to become one of them and did so by providing a false sense of hope, creating a feeling of belonging, and encouraging rebellion.
Niccolo Machiavelli stressed that “one ought to be both feared and loved, but as it is difficult for the two to go together, it is much safer to be feared than loved…for love is held by a chain of obligation which, men being selfish, is broken whenever it serves their purpose; but fear is maintained by a dread of punishment which never fails.” He felt that a true leader must be cunning and deceptive, winning the hearts of his people through power and influence. If he could not be liked, he could at least get by knowing he has intimidated these below him into submission. However rash or cruel this may seem, Machiavelli’s argument is not one to be countered easily.
According to Machiavelli's view of how to be an effective leader, a ruler should be one who is feared but not hated. Machiavelli states that fear is better than love because love is unreliable. All of the reasons that Machiavelli gives relate to how human nature controls men and drives them to commit crimes in order to reach their goals and satisfy themselves.
This is not to say, however, that Machiavelli intended the prince to be indulgent and benevolent to the people, he says quite clearly in Chapter 17, "…it is much more safe to be feared than loved, when you have to choose between the two…" Machiavelli's reasoning was that an excess of clemency towards the subjects when they do something wrong would lead to widespread crime, hurting the whole community. Therefore, being cruel and severe to those who deserve it would allow for the greatest utility (Chapter 17). This view on how to maintain relations with the populace is both logical and realistic. However, Machiavelli draws a clear distinction between being feared and hated. He writes, " A prince must make himself feared in such a manner that … he shall at least not incur their hatred, for being the feared, and not hated, can go very well together," (Chapter 17). The way that a ruler can earn his subjects hatred, says Machiavelli, is if he steals or harms their property. Therefore, by being severe and cruel in his punishments he inspires fear. In being feared, the prince further secures his empowerment, for none of his subjects dare to attempt to take it from him.
Obtaining power is one of the most important ways to either become a ruler or gaining the right to rule. But, in today’s politics the president is already in power so he doesn’t have to gain much more. Machiavelli lays out 3 ways to obtain power in chapter 5. “The first is the destroy it...who will keep the rest your friends.” (Machiavelli, pg. 11). In today’s government we don’t go out destroying countries to add to our land but about 500 years ago we would go to war to obtain the control of whatever space we wanted in the US. Way two is what the president does today which is live in the US since he is in control of it. Lastly, the president will probably never do the third way which is leave his country to live under another country's rule to become friends. “Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.” (Machiavelli). This quote Machiavelli strongly believes in goes over the extent of the president today. No one running or currently president wants to be known as the evil one or someone who is feared by many. They want to be loved by many to win the votes but they also need to have a backbone so they don’t have other countries stepping all over them. But, this quote can be seen used by bad rulers in history and even today. One example is Hitler, he rose to power and was feared by many especially the people he targeted. He was able to obtain power so quickly because the Germans trusted him since being drilled to Heil Hitler at such a young age. Obtaining power back then is way over the extent to how the government today gains their power.