Introduction
In this paper, will be established a link between Machiavelli’s The Prince and the leadership of Vice President Dick Cheney during his tenure. The Prince was addressed to the Medici Family to inform the prince of how he must behave to save Italy from humiliation and lead it into glory. Its writer, Niccolo Machiavelli, proposes the best conduct of a prince as being stingy than generous, cruel than merciless, and one who breaks promises to guard personal interests. Machiavelli also advises the prince to take on large projects as a way of building a reputation and fighting for the people’s goodwill by avoiding being despised or hated. Cheney seemed to follow Machiavelli’s advice of cruelty in his decision during the Iraq war and his resolve to make the president’s power unlimited. While Machiavelli’s arguments were made for historic Italy, they can be traced and proven right in the political figure of Cheney.
Machiavelli’s The Prince and the Leadership of Vice President Dick Cheney
After these introductory paragraphs, the next one will discuss the historical context of The Prince. Paragraphs three to four will present the close reading of the text, particularly, Machiavelli’s maxim that the end justifies the means and his depiction of man as a political animal. The next paragraph will explore Cheney’s context, including his contributions to war after 9/11, political motivations, and the consequences of his actions. In the two paragraphs preceding the conclusion, I will establish a connection between Cheney’s actions and Machiavelli. Finally, I will write the last and concluding paragraph of the essay.
Machiavelli was born in Florence, Italy on May 3, 1469. After completing customary Renaissance education, he studied business mathematics and worked for a banker in Rome until 1494 when he returned to Florence. He saw how the Medici Family was expelled and another family took over leadership. Italy experienced intense political conflicts as Venice, Florence, Naples, and Milan fought over control of the country. While many strategies were at play, these powers also used violence and blackmail. Machiavelli’s political thinking was mainly influenced by Cesare Borgia, a Romagna Duke who was despised by most people for being cruel, vicious, and cunning. While in public service one year after the Medici Family regained their position, Machiavelli was accused of conspiracy, jailed, and relieved of his duties. The Prince was an attempt of his to win over the family’s favor and regain his political post.
The Prince can be divided into four key sections by themes. These include types of principalities explored from the first to the eleventh chapters and types of armies discussed in chapters 12, 13, and 14. From chapters 15 to 23, Machiavelli writes about the expected conduct of a prince and he explains the desperate situation in Italy in chapters 24 to 26. In the final chapter, Machiavelli pleads with the Medici family to support the prince in redeeming Italy. A close reading of the text reveals that Machiavelli’s political thought is inclined towards using any means to achieve a desirable end, the need for swift and cunning political actions, and competition as the driving force of enthusiastic and determined individuals.
Machiavelli believes that the end justifies the means, which makes him support the cruel actions of the prince to seize and retain power. His usage of the terms ‘appearances and results’ and ‘final outcome’ in the text shows his emphasis on the ends rather than on the means (Machiavelli & Atkinson, 2008). He argues, “people judge all men’s actions, and particularly those of a prince, by the final outcome” (Machiavelli & Atkinson, 2008, p. 285). Machiavelli believes that the prince’s actions are always considered honorable and worthy of praise because most people are excited by the results. Machiavelli also perceives man as a political animal because of the need to act cunningly and swiftly to seize power. He explores the rising to power of princes and dukes who quickly and through cunning means took advantage of political moments that yielded them power. An example is given of Duke Borgia, a commoner whose father seized an opportunity to put him into power. Machiavelli praises him for swiftly establishing the foundations for his reign.
Machiavelli creates a concept of competition in politics, which requires enthusiasm and determination. Individuals who seek to consolidate and harness political power must be more enthusiastic and determined than the rest. Slower-paced competitors become victims as the prince moves faster than such enemies do to seize the reign. Machiavelli cites the example of Romans who established and retained their power by ensuring that the less powerful cannot increase their strength. The Romans also “humbled the powerful and forbade potent invaders” from gaining an influence on their colonies (Machiavelli & Atkinson, 2008, p. 113). Throughout The Prince, Machiavelli praises princes and dukes who acted swiftly and even cunningly to seize power from existing rulers.
Vice President Cheney has been described as the American Machiavellian due to his cruelty and cunning actions exhibited in extreme political ambitions, the decisions leading to war following the 9/11 attacks, and the outcomes of these acts. Cheney believed that after the attacks, America needed a way to demonstrate to the world that it still had power over its enemies. Since the desired outcome was to regain the image of a powerful and formidable force in the world of politics, any means were justifiable. According to Friedersdorf (2011), Cheney’s conduct in events, preceding the Iraq war and after the war was mendacious and irresponsible. Cheney led to misinformation by stove piping raw intelligence from the CIA to his office and creating alternative intelligence office within Pentagon. While official records showed no existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Cheney continuously made claims on the contrary in the public (Butt, 2019). In addition, the CIA found no relationship between Saddam and Al Qaeda, but Cheney publicly announced that Saddam supports terrorist groups including Al Qaeda (Friedersdorf, 2011). Cheney’s actions, decisions, and motivations are an indication of Machiavelli’s political thought.
Machiavelli supports the prince in utilizing any means to achieve the desired outcomes. He claims that most people judge leaders by their results rather than methods. Cheney seems to have followed this idea in Iraq’s war because he used false information and cunningly obtained intelligence through an unofficial channels. While the verified data from the CIA showed that Iraq was not involved in nuclear power processing, Cheney continued to announce the contrary to the public. In this way, he would win the approval of the masses and attack Iraq without being despised by the populace (Butt, 2019). Cheney also seems to have followed Machiavelli’s advice on keeping the masses under control when he devised citizen monitoring. He introduced an operation in which NSA would spy on the citizens’ emails and phone calls (Friedersdorf, 2011). All these actions are in line with Machiavelli’s political thought as presented in The Prince.
Cheney is a typical political man as envisioned by Machiavelli because he acted swiftly and cunningly to compete for power with President Bush. Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, Cheney moved to strike a power sharing deal with Bush, which raised the power exercised by a vice president to a new high level (Greenberg, 2019). This move shows how competitive Cheney was in his political career, to the extent of daring to undermine his boss, the president. He also sought to extend the president’s power beyond the constitution, allowing him to bypass congressional oversight. Cheney also engaged in illegal activities just to achieve his desired result of maintaining the US’ position as a global force.
Conclusion
In conclusion, The Prince presents Machiavelli’s political thought, which is reflected in the actions and decisions of Vice President Dick Cheney. Machiavelli advocates for stiff political competition, maintaining and seizing power by all means, and engaging in projects that build a leader’s reputation. Cheney shows competition in his act to raise a vice president’s power after striking a deal with Bush. He also ensured that America attacked Iraq as the project that would reestablish America as a world political power to be reckoned with. In the quest to achieve this mission, Cheney used illegal and cunning methods by providing and using false information. Machiavelli’s old writings introduced a new meaning to contemporary politics that undermined Christian political theories, which required a ruler to be merciful, tolerant, peaceful, and generous. He changed how European politics were conceived under Aristotle’s virtues by introducing the maxim that the end justifies the means, whereby the ‘end’ is self and power preservation.
References
Butt, A. I. (2019). Why did the United States invade Iraq in 2003? Security Studies, 28(2), 250-285.
Friedersdorf, C. (2011). Remembering why Americans loathe Dick Cheney. The Atlantic.
Greenberg, J. (2019). Vice: What the movie gets right and wrong about Dick Cheney.Politifact.
Machiavelli, N., & Atkinson, J. B. (2008). The Prince (Atkinson Edition). Hackett Publishing.