Machiavellian Perspective
Posts by: Angelo Machiavelli
Tuesday (17 April 2012) may mark the beginning of yet another revolt by an exploited and powerless people. This time the protestors were not the citizens of a dictatorship in Moslem North Africa, the people who set off the revolutions of the “Arab Spring.” They were the shareholders of one of America’s largest corporations, Citigroup. [...]
Increasing income disparity is turning America’s oligarchy (i.e., the few, the 1% that hold 40% of the nation’s wealth) into isolated nobles who have little stake or interest in the national welfare. Americans’ incomes over the last decade have stagnated, except for the 1%, whose incomes have increased sharply. Productivity has increased, but the increased [...]
As predicted in a previous blog, the Republican Primary is demonstrating yet another way in which the Tea Party movement is turning on its creators. The Tea Party movement is proving to be a Frankenstein problem for the Republican Party. Like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. Well [...]
General Motors is once again the world’s largest automobile company. This stubborn fact shows that opposition to the GM bailout was after all, not the voice of hard headed economics, but merely the biased judgment of people emotionally committed to right-wing ideology. The New York Times reported the numbers on Thursday 19 January 2012. “G.M. [...]
In the Republican Party Primary, the Tea Party is poised to do for their Party what they did for the approval rating of congress. Their ardent conviction, inflexible beliefs, and belligerent tactics may make is all long for the days of the traditional politics of hypocrisy, expedience, and compromise. In our American democratic republic, it [...]
Media commentators’ conventional wisdom is now that the Euro system is fundamentally flawed and that the markets are bound to be disappointed by European leaders’ muddle-through strategy. However, few commentators have made note of the curious non-event that a systemic meltdown has now been averted for some considerable time. Non-events should command our attention more [...]
On April 5, 2010 fanatical belief in right wing, anti-government, anti-regulation ideology killed 29 miners at the Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine, operated by Performance Coal Company (PCC), then a subsidiary of Massey Energy. On Tuesday 6 December 2011 the Justice Department announced that the new owners of Massey agreed to pay $210,000,000 in fines [...]
At this Christmas season, the minds of modern Machiavellians naturally turn to thoughts of God and religion. Following Niccolò’s precepts we never criticize religion so long as it serves its proper function of curbing human failings and reinforcing the social order. However, when it comes to modern religious innovations, such as the worship of the [...]
In America we value sports and spectacle. Unfortunately, when it comes to national politics, the Republicans versus Democrats match-up is just never a good game. If there were more than two teams, the Democrats would not even be in the same league. They need to shape up their offensive game. The Republican Party’s message (when [...]
One of Niccolò Machiavelli’s most under-appreciated principles is that “people deceive themselves more easily about generalities than about particulars.” We saw Niccolò’s principle of particulars at work last Tuesday in elections around the country. Niccolò inferred his principle of particulars from his reading of Livy’s multi-volume History of Rome. During the Republican period in ancient [...]
