Machiavelli and U.S. Politics Part 3: Lies and Appearances by Lawrence M. Ludlow August 19, 2005 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 In words that are echoed in the mendacity of today’s political class, Machiavelli enthusiastically endorsed lying. In chapter 18 he summed up his reasons: How praiseworthy it is for a prince to keep his faith, and to live with honesty and not by astuteness, everyone understands. Nonetheless one sees by experience in our times that the princes who have done great things are those who have taken little account of faith and have known how to get around men’s brains with their astuteness; and in the end they have overcome those who have founded themselves on loyalty. ... A prudent lord, therefore, cannot observe faith, nor should he, when such observance turns against him, and the causes that made him promise have been eliminated.... Nor does a prince ever lack legitimate causes to color his failure ...
Machiavelli and U.S. Politics Part 3: Lies and Appearances by Future of Freedom Foundation April 2, 2010 In words that are echoed in the mendacity of today’s political class, Machiavelli enthusiastically endorsed lying. In chapter 18 he summed up his reasons: How praiseworthy it is for a prince to keep his faith, and to live with honesty and not by astuteness, everyone understands. Nonetheless one sees by experience in our times that the princes who have done great things are those who have taken little account of faith and have known how to get around men’s brains with their astuteness; and in the end they have overcome those who have founded themselves on loyalty. ... A prudent lord, therefore, cannot observe faith, nor should he, when such observance turns against him, and the causes that made him promise have been eliminated.... Nor does a prince ever lack legitimate causes ...
Machiavelli and U.S. Politics Part 4: War by Lawrence M. Ludlow August 19, 2005 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 On the subject of war, Machiavelli offers simple advice (chapter 14): Thus a prince should have no other object, nor any other thought, nor take anything else as his art but that of war and its orders and discipline; for that is the only art which is of concern to one who commands. Again it is important to remember that Machiavelli’s chief concern is not the freedom or well-being of citizens. His sole interest is a ruler’s ability to acquire and maintain power. In contrast, James Madison, fourth president of the United States and author of the U.S. Constitution, enumerated the many evils caused by war: Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; ...
Machiavelli and U.S. Politics Part 5: War Crimes and Atrocities by Lawrence M. Ludlow August 22, 2005 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 For Machiavelli, there is no deed too ruthless for rulers on the fast track to dictatorship. A prince who wishes to remain in power must not blink at opportunities for cruelty when they can advance his position. ...
The Civilian or the Soldier? An Answer to Critics by Scott McPherson February 2, 2004 In response to my January 12 commentary, “Enola Gay, Just War, and Mass Murder,” a number of people wrote me to complain about the following statement: “Can the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima be justified on the grounds that many thousands of U.S. troops would have been killed in an invasion? ”Certainly not. A ...
“Every Day is 1956”: The Hungarian Revolution Today by Future of Freedom Foundation April 2, 2010 Friends of freedom should doff their hats to the Hungarians this week. Fifty years ago, the Hungarian people bravely expelled Soviet tanks from Budapest and proclaimed their intention to create a democracy. Shortly thereafter, the Soviets returned with almost 5,000 tanks, killing thousands of Hungarians and chaining that nation back into serfdom to Moscow.
Ford’s Legacy: Lawless Government by Future of Freedom Foundation April 2, 2010 The death of former President Gerald Ford unleashed a tidal wave of bathos and political bunkum across the land. Ford was far more exalted in death than he had been during his time in office. Slate’s Timothy Noah critically noted, Within the narrow confines of Permanent Washington — the journalists, ...
What Do Citizens Owe Government? by James Bovard May 1, 2007 When politicians are not promising new benefits to citizens, they continually remind citizens what they owe the government. From their first years in government schools, children are indoctrinated with the notion that government provides them some grandiose benefit. This seed often produces a harvest of servility in later life. But few people stop and ...
How Bogus Fears Bought Bush Four More Years by Future of Freedom Foundation April 2, 2010 Is a president entitled to frighten voters into submission to perpetuate his power over them? While many people are catching on to Bush’s deceits on Iraq, most Americans have forgotten the scams of his reelection campaign. George W. Bush was reelected in large part because he boosted the number of Americans ...
Would-Be Rulers without Clothes by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2008 In a presidential debate with Sen. Barack Obama in Texas, Sen. Hillary Clinton scoffed at the idea that buying medical insurance should be voluntary. “It would be as though Social Security were voluntary Medicare, one of the great accomplishments of President Johnson, was voluntary.... We would not have a social compact with Social ...
Reaching Out to the Left, Part 2: The Issues by Anthony Gregory August 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 Communicating libertarian ideals to the Left can be a challenge, but it can also help bolster our own understanding of our principles. Often, libertarians try to appeal to the Left by emphasizing our areas of agreement, which are conventionally seen as mostly including personal liberties and war. But even when ...
On the Limits of Government, Part 2 by Scott McPherson August 1, 2008 Part 1 | Part 2 In 1776 the Continental Congress submitted to a “candid World” the “self-evident” truths that “all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness....” Government, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed, is merely the means to a noble end. ...
