tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5336104554960904920.post1850976432971852869..comments2023-05-31T09:01:53.214-04:00Comments on Ozymandias' Legs: The PrinceJack Egglestonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06731338097919096051noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5336104554960904920.post-49459232476510441812011-03-08T17:09:11.373-05:002011-03-08T17:09:11.373-05:00I’m really glad you read Machiavelli! It really is...I’m really glad you read Machiavelli! It really is different from the others. What a good book for creating context. Kindness?! Feh! Anyway, you summarize this well and focus on the key parts. M. was a real outlier – a really unusual critic of leadership in his time. Goodness = ruin. Amazing. Realism is a mode and we have to accept it. He’s not saying necessarily that effective leaders are unethical. He’s saying that they should be realists – that is, non-ethical. In an era when Christian claims were the vaneer of governance, M. was telling the truth. A polity based on reality! It was a new idea then. You are right to negate the automatic assumptions about his ideas. Again, defense is the best offense. In the U.S, when presidents claim they have made decision X based not on political considerations, they are lying. M. taught us to call that lie. How can there NOT be political considerations? Let’s be honest. Honesty is a nicer name for realism.Al Filreishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17361573484797020525noreply@blogger.com