http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xfffemx7JIc
This video is a funny clip called ask Machiavelli. It asks him a stupid question but uses some of his actual theories and beliefs to answer it.




This video runs along the same premise.








Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was born in Italy in 1469. He was a playwright, a diplomat and of course a philosopher. He wrote the Discourse on the First Ten Books of Titus Livy which which was a work that praised the Italian state of government.He wrote the famous novel the Prince. A manual describing how the princes who governed the states of Italy should act and conduct themselves. He really knew what he was writing about, he spent times being very close with the Medici's, one of the powerful families in Italy if not all of Europe at the time. He had first hand insight into the government side as well, he was at one point the second chancellor of the republic of Florence. Basically Machiavelli’s works are pieces on being a gentlemen and a warlord. He is all about respect for others and yourself, while maintaining a certain demeanor and controlling what you must control. On top of that he believed in control madness or maintaining a ruthless nature while appear to be somewhat merciful. His main philosophies can be summed up as this; Control your state by any means necessary.


Machiavelli offers many insights on how a prince should conduct himself and his state but some of the most interesting were those on war, fear, and keeping his word. The reason these are so interesting is because they apply directly to our current world. Even though we do have princes and states in the context Machiavelli knew, we have things similar. We have a president, a cabinet, governors and mayors that rule their specific fields. They all deal with the issue of war, leniency, and keeping their word. If the politicians were to take a look at Machiavelli’s work and apply it to their own policies the United States and its allies would be in a much better state.


Thee subject of warfare is touched on and this is a theory that instrumental in the lives of many people. Machiavelli wrote “For between an armed and unarmed man there is no comparison whatsoever, and it is not reasonable for an armed to obey an unarmed man willingly, nor that an unarmed man should be safe among armed servants.” (The prince 38) This applies to the person on a singular level and as a group. This applies to people on their own with arms and people without and to countries with high defense and attack capabilities. It applies to the United States specifically, if another country such as South Africa tried to pressure the U.S. into doing something they did want to do it would go nowhere. Being a world super power and having stockpiles of ammunition and missiles has given us the freedom to do what we want and put leverage on other countries to make them do what we want. The United States government fits well into the Machiavellian theory of arms.





Machiavelli's Philosophies still directly apply to the world we are living in. The qualities of a prince are as relevant and important now as they were in Machiavelli’s time. The qualities on how to conduct one’s life are both insightful and meaningful. It is my thought that if everyone were to instill the qualities of a prince in their own lives the world would function better. We still deal with all the problems that Machiavelli wrote about and all the solutions he offered are still applicable.