In the Machiavelli reading, it talks about how to rule as a prince. This reading was very confusing to me in the way it is laid out. In one opinion it says its better to be loved then to be feared but in the other its vice versa. Wanting to be favored by your people is a normal thing, everyone wants everyone to like them, so what do you have to do to get that? Well the easiest thing to do if give your people money, which takes away money from the government/yourself. Because of this you end up taking back your money, which just leaves your people even angrier. If you want your people to like you and you can’t give them false notions, in the long run its just going to bite you back. So the best idea is said to scare the crap out of your people and then don’t take anything away (land, money, and draft) away from them. I think that you should be a fair prince, but a feared one also. I don’t think they mean a scary prince as in he cuts the heads off of random people. I think that the prince should be scary as in he lays down the law. For example he shows people the consequences for not following the laws. He won’t show that there is a second chance to make that up. He is projecting that you’ll be fine and will not be screwed as long as you do what his laws are. Making laws is a completely different story. There are fair laws and unfair laws to the people and if the case is that there are unfair laws, why should the citizens obey them? If people are living in a overall unhappy place, then revolt will happen. So to maintain your status as a prince for a long time you have to be a overall fair and scary prince.
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