A successful Ruler in Machiavelli’s Eyes

Machiavelli is considered one of the great early modern analyzers of political power. For Machiavelli, a prince must have the following characteristics such as deceit, cunning and expedient in order to be a great leader. He believes that man must control his own destiny, not God(s) or society. In doing so, man is in effect now allowing “nature” to dictate his fate. He treats morality and religion simply as “a means to political ends.” One of his famous claims is that “the end justifies the means”, in which he says that in order for a prince / ruler to attain his goals for the “common good”, he must sacrifice something like people (war, violence), land, and etc. From Machiavelli's point of view, a prince's attitude toward power must be based on an understanding of human nature, which he perceived as basically self-centered. Political activity, therefore, could not be restricted by moral considerations. The prince acts on behalf of the state and for the sake of the state must be willing to let his conscience sleep. Machiavelli believes that in order to be a great leader, one must be too kind or generous, liberality, clemency, and mercy, for he might be think of one as weak. Machiavelli’s principles and ideals can be consolidated into three main mindsets. 1.) Men should either be caressed or crushed, 2.) You must be prepared to act immorally when it becomes necessary, and 3.) It is better to be feared than loved.

At present, the contemporary state of politics is more democratic and civilized. There is not much chaos as what Machiavelli present. His idea of an ideal ruler is still viable in our government; however some ideas presented needs to be changed. Although, some politicians use his political blueprints for success, but they never cease to be effective. An example would be President Bush’s application of “the ends justifies the mean” when he sent troops to Iraq. His actions might have stopped some atrocities that the terrorist might make, but it leads to more violence, conflict and etc. Indeed, only a part of the “ideal ruler” will work today, since it’s not as chaotic as Machiavelli presented in the “The Prince”. However, the “ideal ruler” is what we need today, in order to correct corrupt and abusive practices in the government. If a leader wants to follow what Machiavelli’s idea of a ruler, the leader must be take things at a time in order to become the ideal ruler. The “ideal ruler” that others perceived today might be the same and sometimes different from Machiavelli’s. They might perceive a great leader as just, “god-fearing”, charismatic, optimistic and etc. Although we have had some leaders that possess those qualities that Machiavelli said that a leader should have, they are not using this to be a great leader, but use their skills and abilities for their own interest only. “The Prince” would be nice training handbooks for future leaders; the ideas presented would help them be a great leader in a lot of ways. Using it might be great for countries that doesn’t have a strong government or have been The truth is Machiavelli is only being honest with what he have observed consistently to be true. The effect of his writing are still found today.

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