George W. Machiavelli

I'm not gonna sugarcoat this one, Machiavelli is a total badass. I read Machiavelli for fun. His writings are basically a literary blast of testosterone equal to the cinematic one that is called The Expendables.

Drop your knife in the name of Niccolo Machiavelli!

But in all seriousness, Machiavelli isn't only good for a little adrenaline pumping war strategy action, many of his philosophies on power still ring true to this very day. Much of what Machiavelli says is especially applicable to the bipartisan system in America today. The dueling parties are essentially two elite ruling classes, perpetually at war with one another over the control of territories. They may not fight their battles with guns or swords, (they use the weapons of media and image instead which are arguably more powerful) but there are defined generals, soldiers, casualties and winners/losers.

Hope FTW

This tuesday I went to see Chris Matthews speak at our own Bender Arena. He said that whenever trouble arises in this country, the people blame the ruling party at the time and usually vote for the opposition at the next given opportunity. This got me to thinking about what we had just discussed earlier that day about Machiavelli's famous quote that it is better to be feared than loved.

After 9/11, the Bush administration used Machiavellian strategy to maintain control of the senate and house in the 2002 election as well as in 2004. They did this in two ways: they used fear (instead of love) to keep the people in line, and they made allies of the army first and the people second. By instilling the people with a deep ceded fear of terrorists, it made the people turn their rage on "the terrorists" instead of the government who (arguably) allowed for this to happen. It also made the people dependent on the government. They created an enemy and posted themselves up as the only way to defeat said enemy. The people had no choice but to keep them in power.

HE'S GOT A BOMB!!!

The second way the Bush administration was Machiavellian was that they alined themselves with the military first and let the people follow in a frenzied rush of patriotism. The administration supported the army and if you didn't, well then I guess you must be a terrorist. Although the administration never needed to turn its troops on its own citizens, just their activity was enough to unify a country. Machiavelli at his best.

Ok, maybe this is Machiavelli at his best. But come on, he's technicolored and has a lion and a fox IN his forehead. Doesn't get much better