Modern politicians are prepared to do whatever is necessary to keep themselves in power, but I think they should instead apply Machiavelli's principles in order to keep their ideas in power. Even if a politician or public figure falls from grace, he or she ought to be ready to do whatever is necessary to make sure that his or her ideas retain credibility in the global forum. I believe this because ideas seem to have more power nowadays than individual people do. In a world where most governments have dozens or hundreds of people sharing power, concepts like the small government idea of the Tea Party have more influence than any one conservative congressman. So, if a public figure were to fall from grace because of a wrongdoing, he or she should stop advocating for their ideas, and instead have a more respected colleague continue the campaign, so that the concepts will not be tainted by scandal or discredited all together.
I also don't think that Machiavelli's ideas can be taken literally in these modern times. For instance, Machiavelli says, "If you take control of a state, you should make a list of all the crimes you have to commit and do them all at once. That way you will not have to commit new atrocities every day, and you will be able, by not repeating your evil deeds, to reassure your subjects and to win their support by treating them well." Perhaps in a modern setting, this should read something like, if you have to raise taxes during your term, do it early on so people will forget you did it by the time the next election comes around.
While I do agree that a strict interpretation of Machiavelli's proposals is probably unfeasible in the status quo, I'm not entirely sure if it's possible to have leaders pursue ideas after a "fall from grace".
ReplyDeleteLet's look at the United States. Hypothetically, if we had a political leader, in this case we can use President Obama as an example, that was involved in a scenario that required him to step down from office, Vice President Joe Biden would assume position as President of the United States. While both Obama and Biden are representatives of the Democratic party, Biden would potentially want to distance himself from Obama for multiple reasons. Close ties to a powerful and controversial figure could bolster opposition towards his policies and prevent an effective presidency from occurring. Additionally, Biden would not want to be Obama 2.0. He would need to distinguish himself as a clear and distinct President as opposed to an extension of Obama's presidency.
I think that Machiavelli's proposal should be used to sustain power, but once that power is gone, he has very little applicability.
I only thought about your post in the context of the United States, maybe this could work in non-democratic societies, but my comment is based on the assumption that a democratic society is preferred.