The Mighty Ruler

When we think of a good ruler, we generally think of someone who is honest, hard working, peace loving, merciful, all around good guy. But that is not what Machiavelli had in mind when writing The Prince. His ruler is quite the opposite in fact. Machiavelli’s ruler does what is necessary to retain power and order in his kingdom. He lies when he needs to. War is always on his mind. It is better to be feared than to be loved. Thus, cruelty is a necessity at times. Machiavelli’s prince is similar to the villains in King Lear. Goneril and Regan lie to their father about how much they love him in order to get the greatest share of the kingdom. As a result, they each ended up getting half of the kingdom. Edmund lied about the letter that threatened the life of his father. He did this to advance his position with regards to the inheritance. The sisters can also be described as cruel and cold hearted. They would not allow their father to live with them with his one hundred knights. Thus, they showed the principle that it is better to be feared than loved. They also showed cruelty towards Gloucester. It was them that wanted to hang him and gouge out his eyes. This does not sound like someone most people would admit to wanting as their ruler. But yet, the rulers we elect end up being just that. What does this say about us? As Christians, Christian leaders who follow God’s law should be the rulers that we look for. But Machiavelli is right. There are always going to be those who are evil. According to Machiavelli, the nature of man is evil. So, how do we respond to this? Do we elect the leaders that will do what is necessary to get the job done? Or do we elect those who are morally equal to us? I think the ideal would be that a Christian ruler would be able to do what is necessary according to God’s law. But in a world full of evil, this is not always the easiest to find. Thus, we have a duty to rise up and be those leaders.