Contemporary Parallels of The Prince, by Machiavelli
From the very first page, Niccolo Machiavelli's book, The Prince, contains data that can be compared to the ideals of today. The Prince describes the qualities one needs to be a strong, efficient, and successful ruler. It discusses ways a leader can maintain his kingdom and how to gain control of new land. I believe that the leadership qualities mentioned throughout this book are needed by all leaders no matter which time period they are in and in this paper I intend to show how the principles of yesterday are relevant today. The first quality that I found in Machiavelli, which I could compare to today, is that Machiavelli was a well-rounded individual who had a talent outside of politics. His ability to write helped bring both respect and awe. President Clinton has the same kind of talent. Clinton's ability to play the saxophone probably did not win him any votes, but it did help to make him likeable to the American people. This is an important quality because it will help him retain power in the future. Another parallel found in this book is that no leader should have any serious vices. In Machiavelli's time, it was important for a person to be virtuous, but no too virtuous. His time was a time of kingdoms and empires so it wa
s important for a person to appeal to the people, to look proper and wholesome. However, if a person appears to virtuous his people will not have faith that he will do whatever it takes to protect the people who live in his kingdom from those trying to take it over. This same quality is needed today for a person to be a good leader. In our democratic society it is so very important for a political leader to appeal to the people. If a person does not appear to be virtuous he will not receive votes because people will not feel comfortable with the choices he may make for the country. If a political leader appears to be too virtuous to the people he will not receive votes. In this case he will not be elected because the people will not feel confident that he will make whatever decision necessary for the country to survive no matter what the consequences. In order for a leader to be successful he has to find a happy medium between the two. This leads right into the next quality, a leader has to be able to deceit the people in order to gain control and remain there. Another quality, which is needed both by Machiavelli and today's leaders, is the ability to keep ancient customs and to not make drastic changes. If the people feel that their lifestyles are being changed drastically or that t
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Approximate Word count = 871
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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