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What would Machiavelli do?

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Someone on Yahoo!Answers recently asked with which US political party would Niccolo Machiavelli associate himself if he were alive today.

It actually isn't a bad question. I offered this answer.

Machiavelli was an Italian nationalist. He was enthusiastic about an unscrupulous Prince because he believed only such a Prince could free Italy from the clutches of foreign powers. I suspect he would be a Trump supporter if he were a US nationalist with a similar orientation today. So, at least for the purposes of supporting Trump (not more widely) he would affiliate with the Republican Party.
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  1. HenryMarch 10, 2016 at 11:22 AM

    But the United States today is not in the clutches of a foreign power. I wouldn't equate freeing one's nation from the clutches of a foreign power with preventing the immigration of, or deporting, people on the basis of their ethnic or religious backgrounds.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ChristopherMarch 10, 2016 at 2:53 PM

    Yes, I agree. the analogy limps. I was thinking more of China, and Trump's conception of China as a trade rival, and of how he as a great trade negotiator or an employer of "the very best people," etc., would free the US from the clutches of their currency manipulation.

    Machiavelli might fall for that. In his day, after all, mercantilism was the wave of the future.

    ReplyDelete
  3. HenryMarch 10, 2016 at 3:03 PM

    But Machiavelli would have been smart enough to see through Trump.

    ReplyDelete

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