Machiavelli's THE PRINCE Discussion Thread

It is a pleasure to welcome any of your comments and questions.

Machiavelli in his book, "The Prince" discusses tactics and behaviors which can be used to achieve one's political goals. He made an effort to justify those actions, should the goal be appropriate. Some of Machiavelli's teachings lack any sense of moral base, which therefore leads to despicable behavior.

However, Machiavelli did not write "The Prince" to create a despot/dictator. He wrote about how a dictator/despot thinks, acts, and wins. Heeding his message is comparable to knowing our enemy, the 1st rule of war.

"The Prince" - How to gain and hold political power. Machiavelli merely looked at the human being as a social animal, evaluated its behavior based upon his prior experience, and prior experience available to him through historians. From those experiences developed certain general rules regarding how a leader gains power, removes the threat of the prior regime, and then holds power. However, Machiavelly ignored the spiritual element of man, which is a fatal flaw in his work.

Both a Republic and an Empire must resort to
Machiavellian tactics to survive.

Please provide any comments.

But Machiavelli died!.....or did he?

thats what I meant!