Machiavelli: Il Principe (The Prince)

[zachor_ve_kavod]

I read this work a few years ago.  I don't know whether anyone else on this forum has read it, but it's worthwhile.  There are a couple of points I would like to make about this work that I feel are relevant.

First of all, the term "Machiavellian" has come to mean coniving and ruthless.  This is primarily because of this essay "The Prince".  The Prince is about how a leader should attain and keep power by deceiving when necessary, ruling ruthlessly, stabbing people in the back and so on.  But there is a controversy here, as many scholars believe (and I believe this also) that the work was meant as a satire, a parody of Cesar Borgia. So I think that Maachiavelli has been maligned.

But there is one point that Machiavelli made in the Prince that I think needs to be learned and kept in mind.  I'm paraphrasing here, but the idea is that power rests with those who yield it, not those who rent it.  In the Prince, Machiavelli was warning leaders not to hire mercenary armies, because it would be those armies that would be empowered, not the leader who hired them.

Israel needs to learn this lesson.  By looking to America for protection, for military support, for funding, Israel is ensuring that they are not self-empowered.  And we can see that.  The land Israel now has, may be given up bit by bit as American leaders pressure Israel to do so.  The security of the Jewish people in Israel rests in the hands of the American leaders who have said that they would protect Israel.  Israel today is not a proud and independant Jewish state, it is a vassal of America.  This is a tragedy.

G-d gave Israel to the Jews to care for and grow as a people and as a nation.  What does it say about the Jews that they look to another nation for protection?  What does it say about the Jews that they would give up the land that G-d gave them?

We don't talk a great deal about this issue, but Israel must stop accepting foreign aid.  Every time Israel takes a dollar from another country, she is conceding that she is partly owned by that other country.  I think that the leaders of Israel should take this one lesson from Machiavelli, and take ownership of her interests.

[Ulli]

Yes, I have read this book before a time and I have it until now.

I never thought, that this book could be a parody on Caesare Borgia, the son of the pope I want to mention here. 

I noticed a lot of good observations in this book i.e. how quick people forget. You can be the greatest crook in policy. So long you did your crimes in the beginning of your    governance I can assure you, that the wasp majority of people will have forgotten them and it will have no great impact on your reelection results.