The entry below is a research paper I wrote for one of my college classes.
Even a casual reading of The Prince, written by Niccolo Machiavelli, reveals many disturbing parallels between his political philosophy and many of the actions and policies taken by George W. Bush. Although this president has sold himself to religious conservatives as a fundamentalist Christian, a careful review of his performance since the election of 2000 reveals a very different philosophy at play. Bush represents an almost textbook example of Machiavelli's philosophy at work.
Most Americans have never heard of Niccolo Machiavelli. Born in 1469 in Florence, Italy, his political philosophies have become a cornerstone of modern political thought.
The Prince was a manual for a monarchal ruler on how to maintain his hold on power. The most controversial aspect of his philosophy was his insistence that a ruler can sometimes be excused for acts of violence or deception as long as they helped him maintain the monarchy. To this day, Machiavelli's political philosophies are hotly debated among scholars and students alike.
Despite the fact that Bush was once arrested on a
drunk driving charge in Kennebunkport, Maine in 1976, religious conservatives--despite their tendency to blow any moral gaffe by a politician far out of context--embraced Bush's assertions of his Christianity hook, line, and sinker during the 2000 elections.
Bush has obviously taken Machiavelli's advice about "how a prince ought to keep faith" to heart. In
W. K. Marriot's translationof
The Prince , Machiavelli states in Chapter 18:
"...it is necessary for a prince to understand how to avail himself of the beast and the man... so it is necessary for a prince to know how to make use of both natures, and that one without the other is not durable. A prince, therefore, being compelled knowingly to adopt the beast, ought to choose the fox and the lion; because the lion cannot defend himself against snares and the fox cannot defend himself against wolves.
But it is necessary to know well how to disguise this characteristic, and to be a great pretender and dissembler (disguiser, concealer); and men are so simple, and so subject to present necessities, that he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived.... For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never lets anything slip from his lips that is not replete (filled) with the above-named five qualities, that he may appear to him who sees and hears him altogether merciful, faithful, humane, upright, and religious. There is nothing more necessary to appear to have than this last quality, inasmuch as men judge generally more by the eye than by the hand. Since that time, Bush has been careful to maintain an
image of religiosity in order to hold onto the support of the religious right, which forms the core of his constituency. In an article published in 2002 in the British publication the Observer, writer Paul Harris comments on Bush's displays of Christianity.. According to the article, few presidents have been as openly religious as George Bush. To quote the article, it says that just before he announced that he would seek the presidency a second time,
"Bush told a Texan evangelist that he had had a premonition of some form of national disaster happening.
Bush said to James Robinson: 'I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can't explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen... I know it won't be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it."
In other words, Bush would lead his supporters to believe he was chosen by God to lead the United States.
Hurricane Katrina offered Bush a chance to make a public display of compassion, in keeping with Machiavelli's above-mentioned advice. Despite the fact that the Bush Administration's slow and ineffective response to Hurricane Katrina was as much a show of incompetence as it was a display of contempt for those too poor to evacuate the region, he was quick to take advantage of a
photo-op during his tour of the region in which he comforted two African American hurricane victims.
A reporter with the Niagara Falls reporter recently wrote an article about the
deception inherent in the Bush Administration. In the article, he stated that Bush has a habit of starting with the truth, and then twisting it to his own ends. In 2003, he issued a rosy economic report, boasting of the creation of 3 million new jobs, while leaving the 7 trillion dollar projected deficit America was expected to incur by the end of 2004 out of the report. According to a complaint issued by The Union of Concerned Scientists:
The Bush administration is deliberately suppressing, censoring, distorting and manipulating science to serve its political purposes. That's the conclusion of a distinguished group of scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates and several science advisers to past Republican presidents.
The Union of Concerned Scientists, an independent organization, issued a report, "Scientific Integrity in Policymaking," that details the accusations. The report was undertaken following numerous complaints from top scientists.
"We found a serious pattern of undermining science by the Bush administration, and it crosses disciplines, whether it's global climate changes or reproductive health or mercury in the food chain, or forestry -- the list goes on and on," said Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The most disturbing element of this news report was The Bush administration's relationship with Ahmed Chalabi, an informant from the Middle East who had long ago been labeled unreliable. He was one of the CIA's informants about Saddam Hussein's plans regarding chemical weapons Chalabi was once convicted in the 1980's of embezzling millions of dollars from banks in Jordan and sentenced to 22 years in prison. And yet, according to Gallagher, the Bush administration used intelligence from this source because he said the things the administration wanted to hear--and provided them with an excuse for going to war.
The publicity surround 911 and the Iraq war has pushed news coverage of
Bush's overhaul of the American tax code to the business section of many news outlets. As a result, many Americans are unaware of the implications this plan holds for the middle and lower class. Below is Bush's statement on the Whitehouse's website regarding his tax plan, which summarizes what he would like for people to believe about his tax plan:
"These are the basic ideas that guide my tax policy: lower income taxes for all, with the greatest help for those most in need. Everyone who pays income taxes benefits -- while the highest percentage tax cuts go to the lowest income Americans. I believe this is a formula for continuing the prosperity we've enjoyed, but also expanding it in ways we have yet to discover. It is an economics of inclusion. It is the agenda of a government that knows its limits and shows its heart."
According to this document, the tax cuts are supposed to aimed primarily at middle class families.
However, independent analysis of his tax plan shows that the tax cuts are aimed primarily at the
richest segments of the population. According to a document published on the Citizens for Economic Justice website illustrates the real impact of his tax cuts. Before Bush was elected the top 1% of taxpayers paid out 25% of all the tax revenue collected by the IRS. Due to Bush's changes in the tax code, by 2010, they will only pay 10% of all taxes. Changes in the Alternative minimum tax means that, whereas before only about 1 million taxpayers per year had to pay this tax, now over 36 million will be required to do so--to the tune of an additional $140 billion on top of their regular taxes.
According to economics and business writer
Daniel Gross, the AMT is weighted more to states where property values and taxes tend to be higher--namely the "blue states" where individuals caught paying the AMT are more likely to be middle class democrats.
In addition, Bush's pro-corporate policies tend to obscure many
GOP principals, which traditionally tend to favor small businesses. According to a USA today article the federal government is spending $90 billion per year on grants and subsidies to large corporations, and over the next 10 years this number is set to rise by another $85 billion. According to the article, Bush's favoritism toward corporations is not without a price--which will be laid at the feet of future generations.
Bush has, in essence, declared
war on the poor of the United States. His policies have hit lower income earners harder than any others. In a 2003 article by Jim Walis, the writer states that the average income off America's 400 wealthiest individuals was 174 million, while those in the bottom 90 percent earn an average of 27,000 per year. Under Bush, programs such as childcare assistance, rent subsidies, and Medicaid have been cut, while spending on the Pentagon and tax cuts favoring the rich have been increased at the expense of the poor. Walis stated that the exclusion of poor families from the child tax credit is becoming a parable. When Congress voted on this measure, the Senate tacked on a measure that would include those who earn between $10,500 and $26,650 would benefit. The amendment was dropped at the last minute in favor of a further reduction in the capitol gains tax. When Tom Delay was questioned about the fact that lower income workers were left out, his answer was,
"There are a lot of other things that are more important than this."
While the poor in the United States suffer badly, their suffering is nothing compared to the suffering of those employed in
sweatshops in the third world. According to writer Radley Balko for A World Connected, an organization which studies the effects of globalization, workers in China at the Wellco Factory for Nike shoes earn only 16 cents per hour, even though the living wage in this region is 86 cents per day. They work 11-12 hours per day, seven days a week, and are fined if they refuse overtime. Neither do they receive time and a half, or anything extra for working overtime. Under Bush's pro-free trade stance, many factories located in the United States have started offshoring US jobs in favor of exploiting laborers in third world countries where workers have few protections from human rights abuses and are willing to work for less than poverty level wages.
In light of Bush's favoritism of the rich and free trade, his recent speech pushing for green cards for illegal immigrants in the United States comes as no surprise. Neither does the focus on the sex trade by law enforcement agencies fighting
human trafficking in the United States, as opposed to human slavery, which is much more common. Estimates place the number of illegal immigrants forced to work for minimal or no wages in homes, sweatshops, restaurants, construction projects and agricultural fields in the millions.
If one believes the old adage "actions speak louder than words", then Bush's real loyalty, is not to Jesus Christ, but to the rich of America. When this administration extols the Republican belief in smaller government, it is really a codeword for oligarchy--consisting of the wealthiest Americans. In Chapter 5 of The Prince, Machiavelli says,
Whenever those states which have been acquired as stated have been accustomed to live under their own laws and in freedom, there are three courses for those who wish to hold them: the first is to ruin them, the next is to reside there in person, the third is to permit them to live under their own laws, drawing a tribute (payment for protection), and establishing within it an oligarchy (small government) which will keep it friendly to you. Because such a government, being created by the prince, knows that it cannot stand without his friendship and interest, and does its utmost to support him; and therefore he who would keep a city accustomed to freedom will hold it more easily by the means of its own citizens than in any other way.
Bush's support of corporate America is one way he seeks to secure his power--by insuring that only a few, whom he enriches at the expense of both American and foreign workers--remain steadfastly loyal to him. By keeping the wealthy beholden to him, he maintains an enormous amount of control over both our economy at home, and the economies of foreign countries. By controlling the flow of money in the world economy, he makes it more difficult for those who might oppose his policies to rise against him--both at home and abroad.
The Patriot Act, and other provisions which give the government the right to invade American's privacy, has less to do with fighting terrorism than it does with instilling fear in those who might protest against the Bush regime--a tactic straight out of The Prince--
Therefore a prince, so long as he keeps his subjects united and loyal, ought not to mind the reproach of cruelty; because with a few examples he will be more merciful than those who, through too much mercy, allow disorders to arise, from which follow murders or robberies; for these are wont to injure the whole people, whilst those executions which originate with a prince offend the individual only...
Upon this a question arises: whether it be better to be loved than feared or feared than loved? It may be answered that one should wish to be both, but, because it is difficult to unite them in one person, is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispensed with...
... but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails.
Under Bush, the United States increasingly resembles a police state. In a November 28, 2005 article released by the Associated Press, Miami Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez announced that the police department would be conducting
random shows of forceat banks, hotels, and other public places "to let terrorists know were watching them"., and that they would be checking the ID's of individuals going in and out of the areas they would be checking.
A judge in New York recently ruled that it is constitutional for
police to randomly searchrider's bags in an effort to deter terrorism.
According to a recent article in the Washington Post, the Defense Department has expanded its programs aimed at
gathering and collecting intelligence within the United States, and is seeking additional legal authority for domestic security activities. The Pentagon is pushing for an exception to the Privacy Act, which would allow them to share information collected about US citizens with the FBI and other intelligence agencies. According to Kate Martin, the Director the Center for National Security Studies, the measure "removes one of the few existing privacy protections against the creation of secret dossiers on Americans by government intelligence agencies." She said the Pentagon's "intelligence agencies are quietly expanding their domestic presence without any public debate."
In one area, Bush disregards Machiavelli's advice in regard to "flatters", by giving many top positions and contracts in the federal government to his friends and business contacts.
Therefore a wise prince ought to hold a third course by choosing the wise men in his state, and giving to them only the liberty of speaking the truth to him, and then only of those things of which he inquires, and of none others; but he ought to question them upon everything, and listen to their opinions, and afterwards form his own conclusions. With these councilors, separately and collectively, he ought to carry himself in such a way that each of them should know that, the more freely he shall speak, the more he shall be preferred; outside of these, he should listen to no one, pursue the thing resolved on, and be steadfast in his resolutions. He who does otherwise is either overthrown by flatterers, or is so often changed by varying opinions that he falls into contempt.
The Project for the Old American Century Website lists
28 individuals Bush and Cheney have appointed to key government posts who had former business or political ties to them.
In addition a Reuters article published on ABC.com reveals that
Halliburton, the company that once had Dick Cheney as its CEO, was granted a rebuilding contract in New Orleans, as well as $9 billion in Pentagon contracts.
His recent nomination of Harriet Mears, his family lawyer, to the Supreme Court is further evidence of cronyism. At least Americans can take heart in the
following quotepublished in The Economist:
The one bit of good news in the mess of the Miers nomination is that the Founding Fathers designed the constitution to provide checks on the president's power to advance his cronies. In Federalist 76 Alexander Hamilton justified the consultative role of the Senate on the grounds that it would discourage a president from appointing people who were "personally allied to him" or who were so insignificant and pliable that they would turn into "obsequious instruments of his pleasure".
Despite the fact that his favoritism has lead to a great deal of incompetence in a number of important government agencies, Bush has become increasingly open about improprieties in the White House, and uncaring of criticism leveled at him by the American public--which is one of the things which have caused him to recently "fall into contempt".
Perhaps the most disturbing element of the Bush Presidency has been his allegiance to a number of radical right wing groups, which includes religious fanatics include who wish to institute biblical law as opposed to constitutional law. Their belief in the oppression of women, hatred of blacks and single mothers, and belief that poverty is the result of sin make them the perfect allies for one who has done so much to undermine so many of the freedoms guaranteed to Americans by the Constitution. It allows Bush to hide the oppression of the poor, women, and others who have suffered because of his policies favoring the rich behind expressions of religious piety. Government sponsorship of faith based initiatives have melded church and state in easy previously thought impossible. The fanatical nature of these groups and their ability to efficiently organize during elections makes them a highly effective tool in Bush's war against dissenters.
Christian fundamentalism is characterized by a literal interpretation of the Bible, hostility toward science, and a belief that they are unerringly correct in their assumptions about theology. As many of their beliefs are derived from the Puritans, they tend to see poverty as a result of sin. Contrary to popular belief, most of their activists are upper income, white baby boomers whose agenda is power and money. Many of their recognized leaders such as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have
no recognized credentials as theologians. Their main objective
"is to impose, with force if necessary, a theocracy and eliminate all modern scientific theory and social philosophy. This means entire scientific fields and research would be banned, restricted, or curtailed. All civil law as we know it today would be replaced by Biblical Law based mainly on the most brutal sections of the Old Testament. Even many Christian churches would be banned for their lack of "Christian correctness." Their mix of political activism and religious bigotry is a menace to our democratic society.
Machiavelli provides some insight into the nature of "ecclesiastical (relating to the Christian Church)" nations
...for they are sustained by the ordinances of religion, which are so all-powerful, and of such a character that the principalities may be held no matter how their princes behave and live.
And in another chapter...
Every one sees what you appear to be, few really know what you are, and those few dare not oppose themselves to the opinion of the many, who have the majesty of the state to defend them; and in the actions of all men, and especially of princes, which it is not prudent to challenge, one judges by the result.
His policies in the Middle East regarding the conflict between
Israel and the Palestinians are one example of how bowing to pressure from the religious right is having a powerful effect on world politics. Christian Zionists enjoy widespread support in Congress, and these Christians believe it is mandated by god that they support Israel, despite the fact that this support has lead to increased violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians--as well as the region as a whole.
America resembles a
fascist statemore with each passing day. In a December 2000 interview with CNN correspondent Chris Black the just-elected George Bush stated,
"I told all four (the bipartisan congressional leadership) that there were going to be some times where we don't agree with each other. But that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."
In 2004, House Representative Major Owens warned a
group of protestors that Bush is leading America "
into the snakepit of fascism". In addition Owens said to the crowd that the Bush administration is fascist because it
"has contempt for democracy and uses power -- military power, money power, all power -- to override the wishes of those who are governed." In a nearly unprecedented move for a former president
Jimmy Carter wrote an editorial that appeared in the Los Angeles Times in which he voiced concerns about the nation's policies regarding the separation of church and state, the United States' use of pre-emptive war, the wage gap between the rich and poor, and the erosion of American's constitutional freedoms by the Patriot Act.
Despite the fact that after 911, Bush declared himself to be "the great uniter", the United States is more divided than at nearly any point in its history, except for the Civil War. In the end, George W. Bush's propensity for deception, destruction of Constitutional law, and Machiavellian quest for unprecedented power may bring about the destruction of the United States as a democracy.