In article , Ed Huntress
wrote:

On Mon, 07 Sep 2015 06:54:06 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sun, 06 Sep 2015 15:02:25 -0400, Joe Gwinn
wrote:


From chapter 20 of The Prince. The first two sections are directly
relevant.

.http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince20.htm

The Prince (published in 1513) was well-known when the US was being
founded.

Hear, Hear!

Before you get all excited, you should read the entire book. It's
about how to manipulate a population so a monarch can run it
peacefully and successfully.

True - it's good advice on how to be a successful Prince.

This is realpolitic, long before democracy reached Italy.


For example, the "arm the people" idea applied only to certain
circumstances. In others, Machiavelli's recomendation was to disarm
them all -- if you can't use them for cannon fodder, keep them
intimidated.

While I'll grant that The Prince is pretty ruthless, it's a whole lot
more nuanced than that.


If you think about what he's saying, you won't be so enthusiastic.
It's all about how to manipulate people like you.

By all means read the whole thing. It's not all that long, and it's
more often misapplied or misquoted than read.

It's still in print, 500 years later. How many books can claim that?

Joe Gwinn