Machiavelli Pros And Cons

While writing his 16th century political treatise The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli emphasized the relative importance of being feared over loved as a prince. Machiavelli’s argument is based off of the idea that “it is more compassionate to impose harsh punishments on a few than out of excessive compassion, to allow disorder to spread” (536). To support his argument, Machiavelli cites several historical incidents of were being feared over loved benefited or saved a ruler’s position or his nation. These historical examples include that of Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI; Hannibal Barca, military commander from Carthage; and Scipio Africanus, Roman general who defeated Hannibal Barca. But since the publication of Machiavelli’s …show more content…
Kennedy during his presidency in the early 1960s, George W. Bush’s presidency after 9/11, Adolf Hitler’s role as Führer during Germany’s Third Reich, and Kim Jong-un’s current reign as supreme leader of North …show more content…
Bush, 43rd President of the United States serves as an example of rule through love being futile. President Bush was elected in controversy. In a 5-4 decision by the United States Supreme Court, Bush was elected in 2000 while receiving fewer popular votes nationwide than his opponent, Al Gore. Because of this, in the beginning of his presidency, Bush suffered from a low approval rating. But, after the September 11th tragedy of a terrorist attack in which two planes were used as weapons and flew into the United States Trade Centers in 2001, President Bush was astute in using the nation’s despondency to his advantage. Bush had been able to make the nation rally in a time of desperation—to fight a war in the Middle East to stop the terrorism that had led to the towers’ destruction. Through this rallying in nationalism, Bush’s approval rating bounced to an all-time high of 90%, a higher approval rating than any president before him. But it was because of this love for President Bush that soon led to the large spread animosity and hatred felt towards him. While the United States rallied for war against terrorism, as described by the Bush Doctrine, many supported the movement with a fresh wound from the September 11th attacks and an open heart for their leader, President George W. Bush. But as Machiavelli describes in chapter seventeen of The Prince, About Cruelty and Compassion; and when it is better to be Loved than Feared, or the reverse, men are “ungrateful,