Machiavelli, 10/29/31

Nicollo Machiavelli was the author of the Prince, a guide to leaders on how to keep power . He was born on May 3rd, 1469 in Florence, Italy. He wrote his book Prince, during the Renaissance. During that time, it was thought that to be a good leader, you needed to have good morals, and that by doing good things, you would gain respect. Machiavelli instead thought that if you have power, you have the right to command, and that being nice does not mean people have to follow you. His main idea in the Prince is that if you have power, you will have good politics and authority.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/

"The one who adapts his policy to the times prospers, and likewise that the one whose policy clashes with the demands of the times does not." In today's race for seats for the senate, or to become governor of a state, the politicians need to make sure that their ideas are reflecting what the voters want. If the view of most voters is to have a universal health care, the politician who says he/she also wants universal health care will most be more popular with the voters. While the politician who doesn't want universal health care, he/she will not get that many supporters.

"The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present." In politics, a person is elected by what she/he says they will do. If a person says that their top priority is health care, than when they got elected they put health care last and a war first, which they said they wanted to end, but they are now promoting the war, their followers will now hate them. This is not a good quote to follow these days because of people's voice in the government.

"The wise man does at once what the fool does finally." When the Inca leader first found out about Pizarro and his men, he should have killed them, instead, he waits to see what they have with them. By not killing Pizarro and his men, the Incan leader was a fool, for he did not predict how powerful these men were.


http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/machiavelli/