During the discussion on the excerpts from the prince piece I drew many parallels with another class I am in, Advanced Government and Politics. On Wednesday in my PLS class we were speaking about the president. The public has many ideas of the president, and we wish for him to be all things to all people. We expect our president to be warm, caring, and compassionate, but at the same time ruthless and clever. We expect him to be confident but not arrogant, and to maintain traditions while creating new order. This was similar to the ideas the author held of a leader. He says a leader should be a contradict in similar ways. The key in both instances is the balance of the two traits you are trying to master.
The Machiavellian way is self interested. The Lincolnian way is making oneself an agent for the people. The Platonian way is doing what is best for all. The Lincolnian leader reminded me a lot of an attorney. While Lincoln held his own values about what was right, he also understood that he was an agent for the people and aimed to do what they wanted as a whole. In the same way a defense attorney may have his own ideas about whether or not his client is innocent or guilty, but he has to put these aside and do the best he can to prove his client's innocence, or at the very least make sure that guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is not established.
I agree with you that the president has a tough job. There is no way that he can please all people because the root of American culture is being different but finding that balance to where he can get his job done and satisfy enough people to stay in office is key. Not easy to say the least but adapting all three of those leadership types help to achieve that. And of course the "perfect world" lawyer would act as a mere agent to he his hired by but as we know, lawyers have the reputation of being slightly self interested as well.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with both of you that the president's job is far from easy and as a people we set such a high standard for the president. As a person, the president cannot possibly be everything at once. A president should generally stay away from the Machiavellian model in my opinion and he or she should try to work for the other two models. As a person the president will not be able to follow the two other models perfectly but if he/she tries than he/she should make a good president.
ReplyDeleteI thought your comparison to an attorney was very good. Both seem to posses the same type of mentality and moral to understand how to separate their personal interests with their job. It must be so difficult to be a defense attorney and have to prove your client innocent, even if you may think they are not. I can give a lot of respect to someone who can master this skill because it could be extremely hard for some to distinguish the difference.
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