Machiavelli

Posted by Jesus of Cool on August 28, 2001

In Reply to: Mac Theory posted by Tiko on August 16, 2001

"Machiavellian" is generally used to describe an intelligent, devious, cunning act, plan or person. I believe it to be a misnomer however. Upon reading "The Prince", my take was that Machiavelli was spot on when it came to governing. For me, it boiled down to this: if you want to remain in power, you have to be capable of distasteful, even horrendous actions, but practice them only as a last resort. Those who are unable to commit those acts will be removed from power by the evil, and those who commit those acts as a matter of course will be removed from power by the righteous.

Sounds about right to me.

JOC