Question

When bill clinton advised democrats after the 2002 mid-term elections that the people, when insecure, would "rather have someone who is strong and wrong than someone who's weak and right," he echoed machiavelli's advice that a prince should never appear?

Answer 1

Niccolo Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat, historian, philosopher, writer and poet of the Renaissance period. He is often called the father of political science. He was a senior official in the Florentine Republic. He wrote his most famous work The Prince in (1513).

His views are famous for being unscrupulous, and normalizing behaviours such as dishonesty and the killing of innocents in politics. He argued that a prince's most important job was not to be liked by the people, but feared, as this inspired more respect. He also believed that a prince should never appear weak, either to his subjects or to other countries, as this would cause him to be despised and attacked. Bill Clinton echoes this idea of strength being more important than virtue in his speech.