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| Europe |
| Sarkozy: Unnuanced Machiavellian? |
| 2007-12-30 |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #3 So Machiavelli knew Jimmuh the Peanut? Yep. In a way -- that type of "leader". |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-12-30 16:30 |
| #2 "2) A bad leader tries to pretend otherwise, and force others to accept unrealistic goals, which is why he fails. He wants to be loved by the public." So Machiavelli knew Jimmuh the Peanut? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2007-12-30 13:58 |
| #1 Machiavelli should only be objectionable to those who are naive and idealistic. If you boil down his arguments, he says the following: 1) The world is an imperfect, corrupt and treacherous place. Therefore a good leader must take these conditions into account, and even use them to his advantage. 2) A bad leader tries to pretend otherwise, and force others to accept unrealistic goals, which is why he fails. He wants to be loved by the public. 3) The public neither knows, nor wants to know, the processes of government. However, they like to pretend that they know. They want government to "work". How it does it is of little concern. 4) There are many forms a government can take; but the rules governing it remain the same. All told, there is not very much that, taken with a grain of salt, is terribly offensive. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-12-30 12:37 |