The Downside of Machiavellianism
My mental contract with my readers compels me to be honest with you. I must tell you that it is not my mission to convince you to follow the advice I dispense from this web site and in my book, The Modern Prince. I simply present my thoughts, and you must decide for yourself if what I recommend is consistent with your own nature and appropriate for your world. It is your life you are living. It is the only one you will ever have and you should make the best of it. I am not in the conversion business. I do not want to make any of your decisions for you. If you choose to read this material, then you should think carefully about what you are reading.
Remember also that there is no rule that you have to buy the whole Machiavellian concept as I conceive it. You can simply select the ideas you like and forget or change the ones you don’t like. Consistency is not a virtue; neither is inconsistency. Consistency and inconsistency are simply two available choices.
Pursuing your own destiny on your own terms rather than simply falling in step with the other human apes that make up our society has its risks, and I feel compelled to make you aware of them.
Downside #1: Your Need for Approval May Not Be Satisfied - The biggest problem with the Princely life is that you do not receive the approval and validation from others that most humans need. Other people may not approve of the life you want to live. While most people give lip service to the concepts of individualism and personal independence, they don’t really mean it. Notice that they all look alike, dress alike, talk alike, think alike, eat alike, and read the same things (if they read). At the office, they all speak the same corp-speak, are “excited” by the same “challenges,” fawn over their bosses in the same way, and fall into lockstep when commanded to do so. Most people do not like people who are different, and to the extent that they see you as different they will dislike you. If you are a person who needs approval and ratification, then pursuing a separate destiny could be a lonely and unhappy experience. You may have to choose between hiding your true nature or enduring the disapproval of the primates around you. Or, you may choose to hide an important part of your nature from most, but not all, of the people around you at the risk of being found out.
Downside #2: You May Have To Endure Disapproval: It is human instinct to dislike people who are different. If you are obviously very different, you may find that other people begin to express their disapproval of your life and actions. It is hard to endure disapproval. It stirs up emotions of shame, anger, resentment, etc. Most human apes enjoy the opportunity to look down on someone else and to feel smug and self-righteous in the process. If, however, you are the one they are looking down on then you may feel some anguish.
It is usually OK with us if those who express disapproval are from another group. For example, Bill Gates probably doesn’t care whether Larry Ellison (CEO of Oracle) likes him, and George W. Bush probably doesn’t care if Ralph Nader dislikes him. But it would probably bother Gates if one of Microsoft’s vice-presidents said that Gates is an incompetent manager, and George W. Bush would probably resent it if Condoleeza Rice was overheard saying that Bush has a low IQ. Do not delude yourself that your group will “understand” your eccentricities and forgive you because they realize your true inner worth as a person. I knew a hospital administrator once who was (and probably still is) a lesbian. During a friendly conversation on politics, she mentioned to me that she always voted for the most conservative candidates because she hoped for a tax reduction. I asked her if it was prudent for her to vote for candidates who were opposed to her lifestyle and who might re-impose criminal penalties for lesbian sex-play. “Republicans only pretend to be anti-gay so they can get the hayseed vote,” she scoffed. “Once elected, they will find a way to disavow those promises. They all have gay sisters, cousins, and daughters. They are not going to turn against their own blood. We, after all,” she asserted with obvious condescension, “believe in family - unlike Liberals.” My friend could not believe that anyone anywhere could ever disapprove of her because she felt that she was a good person.
I am of the opposite opinion, however. I believe that it is human nature to form a mob and dispense justice in the form of expulsion from the group and the open expression of contempt. It is very difficult on a person who is being shunned. Some can endure it better than others, but most people can’t stand it. Remember the scenes from the old horror movies when the mob of peasants gathered around Baron Frankenstein’s castle with pitchforks and torches? They will gather around you too if you are too different and they find out about it. If, for example, you like to wear panties, garter belt, and hose beneath the trousers of your business suits while at the payroll department of the corporation you work for, you should probably keep this knowledge limited to a few very intimate personal friends. If you are a vegetarian who believes that meat eaters are twisted, sick, monsters who need to be locked up in concentration camps (carnivores take note: people like this are walking unnoticed among you), it is best not to articulate this opinion at a neighbor’s back yard barbecue. If you are a teacher, it is best not to mention at a PTA meeting that half of your students have a below-average IQ - which is the statistical definition of stupid - because their parents are also stupid.
Why do I say it is best not to mention these things? Don’t you have a perfect right to believe whatever you want to? Aren’t there rational arguments in support of the harmlessness of your taste in underwear, the healthfulness of the vegetarian diet, and the statistical definition of normal? Yes, but you will be shunned and you will gain nothing. Do not start a fight you cannot win. Remember the lesson that Sam Houston taught us: run from the enemy if he can defeat you. Only participate in fights you can win. Only idiots choose martyrdom. The brave men who died at the hands of their enemy at the Alamo were martyrs for the Texas cause and their honor has not been questioned to this day. However, the man who ran from martyrdom and whose honor was insulted many times was the same man who lived to defeat that same enemy, who became the Father of his Country, the first President of Texas, the first Senator from the state of Texas, the Governor of the state of Texas, and whose name was given to the greatest city in Texas.
If you choose to march to the beat of your own drum, do not expect praise and approval. If you find that you are nevertheless receiving a lot of praise and approval, remember again the lessons of the life of Sam Houston: those who praise you today might be gathered around your house with pitchforks and torches tomorrow. Sic transit gloria.
Downside #3: Machiavellianism Doesn’t Always Work - This, of course, can be said about any perspective on life. Julius Caesar - brilliant general, brilliant politician, and brilliant man - lived pretty much according to Machiavellian principles (though more than 1500 years before Machiavelli was born), but he died in downtown Rome with the knives of many of his friends sticking out of his back. Caesar’s lover and student - the great, brainy, arrogant, beauty Cleopatra - was a Machiavellian to the core, but in the end she took her own young life to avoid being dragged through the streets of Rome in rags and chains by her enemy Octavius (soon to become Augustus, First Emperor of Rome). 
If Machiavellianism is as clever as I claim, then why does it not always succeed?
- Sometimes our opponents are just too smart or simply too numerous to defeat. Native Americans could have used Machiavellian principles to defend their lands against White European invaders, but nothing they could have done would have succeeded. They were doomed from the moment Columbus’s big toe first landed on their soil. There were too many invaders. Their technology of gunpowder, horse drawn wheeled vehicles (the wheel was not used by Native Americans), hardened iron pikes and blades, written communication, and trained standing armies was overwhelming.
- Sometimes we make a tiny but critical error in strategy or judgment. The executives at a small software company named Digital Research were visited by some employees of IBM in 1980. IBM wanted to discuss a possible business partnership. However, said the fellows from IBM, before we can talk, Digital Research must sign a nondisclosure agreement agreeing never to reveal the subject of the conversation. Digital Research executives - following the advice of their lawyers - declined to sign the agreement but expressed eagerness to work with IBM. We are sure, said Digital Research to their IBM visitors, that we can work this problem out in the next few days. Digital Research was simply being prudent.
Unfortunately, the visitors from IBM were under strict instructions not to speak to anyone without a signed disclosure agreement. Since they were in Seattle anyway, they made an unplanned visit the CEO of a second tiny software company, named Micro-Soft. There they found that young Bill Gates immediately put his pen to their nondisclosure agreement. The relieved IBM executives revealed to Gates that IBM needed a new operating system for the new IBM-PC that they were secretly developing to compete with Apple. The rest is history.
Because Digital Research listened to its lawyers and exercised prudence in matters of business, college dropout Bill Gates became the richest man in the world. The founder of Digital Research - the late Dr. Gary Kildall, who had a PhD in computer science - went down in world history as the man who made the most expensive business ever. He spent the rest of his life explaining, refuting, revising, and denying the story told in the preceding two paragraphs. - Sometimes Luck is against us and unpredictable events conspire to defeat us. Would Spain have conquered England if a storm had not damaged the Spanish Armada? Would Jimmy Carter have lost to Ronald Reagan if Army helicopters had not developed mechanical problems during a failed commando raid to free Americans being held hostage in Iran? Would those who perished in the Oklahoma City bombing still be alive if religious fanatics in Waco had not set fire to their own buildings, thus setting a couple of Christian terrorists on a vengeful path? Would Al Gore have been elected President in 2000 if the ballot used in Palm Beach County, Florida, had not been badly designed by Theresa LePore, Supervisor of Elections (and a Democrat). How many important games in one sport or another have been decided by a referee’s bad call, a little toe just over the line, or a sudden gust of wind catching the ball?
Downside #4: It Didn’t Work for Machiavelli - It is an awkward fact that in the end 
Machiavellian principles failed to help Machiavelli himself. In the early 1500’s, the republican government Machiavelli worked for in Florence was crushed by outside forces and was replaced by a dictatorship of the Medici family, and so Machiavelli lost his position.. Machiavelli’s name was placed on a list of possible sympathizers by a couple of bumbling revolutionaries who wanted to overthrow the Medici government. Though Machiavelli himself was never contacted by the conspirators, the list was captured with its authors by Medici agents.
Machiavelli was arrested, tortured, and eventually released, but he was exiled from Florence. He languished in relative poverty, powerlessness, boredom, frustration, and obscurity on his family farm, reduced to selling hay and firewood. He decided to write a little book of advice and wisdom to the Medici family member then ruling Florence. Machiavelli thought that the book would show how wise he was in political and military matters. He wanted to convince Medici to give him suitable employment in the government. Unfortunately, his plan did not work, and Machiavelli was not recalled to an important post in the government. In fact, there is no evidence that Medici ever read The Prince, as the little book was later to be called.
“Wait a minute,” you may be thinking. “If these principles did not work for the guy who invented them, then why should I believe they will work for me?” That is a very intelligent question, and my reassurances will not answer it. Only you can answer that question for yourself. The bottom of this page is close. Finish the page and then think it over.
So, if Machiavelli was so smart and Machiavellianism is such a profound perspective, how come he couldn’t extricate himself from his own predicament? Machiavelli is not here to answer that question, but I think he might make these two points in reply:
- There are some situations in which no strategy will lead to the desired success. Machiavelli, I think, was grasping at straws when he wrote The Prince. Because all he had to offer was his wisdom, he offered the only thing he had - hoping it would somehow be enough. Would it have made more sense to do nothing? A homeless bum might spend his last dollar on a Lotto ticket at a convenience store. A professor of statistics, standing behind the bum in line, might comment that the bum’s strategy was foolish. The odds are heavily against its success, he would explain. The bum would reply that his world contained nothing but long shots. To this the statistician could - in all probability - phrase no reply.
- Luck is a bitch. Machiavelli wrote at length about the impact of Luck in the affairs of men and women. Luck, as defined by Midas Jones, is the impact of all things that you can neither control nor predict. Floridians couldn’t predict and couldn’t control the four hurricanes that damaged their their state in 2004, but they lost their homes anyway. Honest accountants working for the Arthur Anderson Accounting Firm in Denver couldn’t know about and couldn’t control the actions of their colleagues in the Houston office, who were producing user-friendly audits for Enron management - but they lost their jobs anyway. Similarly, Machiavelli could not have predicted or controlled the fact that his name might be placed on a list of possible supporters of an ill-conceived antigovernment plot - of which he knew nothing until he was arrested. And you, my dear readers, all assume that you will not meet with unexpected bad luck tomorrow - but some of you will.
Using Machiavellian principles to guide you does not guarantee success. But there is no philosophy, religion, or personal strategy that works all the time. Most philosophies, religions, or personal perspectives have an escape clause that allows people to continue to embrace delusional thinking. “God works in mysterious ways.” “I’m due for some good Luck.” “Everything happens for a reason.” “God answers all prayers, but sometimes His answer is ‘No’.”
When things go wrong, the Machiavellian can only say one of these four things:
- “I didn’t plan well enough.”
- “I didn’t execute my plan skillfully enough.”
- “Bad Luck overwhelmed my efforts. Dammit!”
- “My opponents were too numerous or too skillful.”
If you have read this far, then you owe me a note telling me what you think about Machiavellianism. I am curious about my readers. Write to me: MidasJones@MidasJones.com
www.MidasJones.com
The Modern Prince:
Better Living Through Machiavellianism
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Warning: Don’t buy my book unless you are willing to pay the price for success. To become a more successful person, you must become a stronger, more capable person. This is easier to say than to do, as we all know. My book contains no magical formulas or simplistic rules of life. It challenges you to meet life on its own terms and achieve your most cherished goals, whatever they may be.
The Modern Prince is based on The Prince, a little book of advice written by Nicolo Machiavelli to the Prince of Renaissance Florence five hundred years ago. I have rewritten Machiavelli’s classic work for the modern reader. I used the same lively, readable style that you find in these web pages. Machiavelli’s ideas have been used by the movers and shakers of the world for five centuries.
This is your one and only life. Live it by your own rules and on your own terms.
Why live any other way?
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