2001-09-25 Machiavelli on Our War
From Issuepedia
Specs
Machiavelli on Our War
longer text
As ever, the best guide for leaders is Machiavelli. Candidates for officer rank in our special forces are required to read The Prince and then, after weeks of punishing challenges to mind and body, must write an essay applying his lessons to terrible decisions they might face while commanding our finest soldiers. The president should listen to his clear-eyed wisdom on the eve of battle.
The headers to the rest of Ledeen's article, which presumably summarize his arguments, are:
- Man is more inclined to do evil than to do good.
- The only important thing is winning or losing.
- If you have to do unpleasant things, it is best to do them all at once, rather than to do a long series of little ones.
- It is better to be more feared than loved.
- The world is in constant flux. ("Therefore, you must never relax...")
- Luck can wreck the finest plans.
This, of course, is utterly insane (except for the last item).
[edit] shorter text
Two weeks after 9/11, The resident scholar in the Freedom Chair at AEI expounds a philosophy rife with false dilemma – good versus evil, us versus them, winning versus losing – and advocates this thinking as the best possible guidance for our leaders.
