In “The Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli he talks about all the ways to gain leadership in a monarchy and also ways to maintain that leadership in a monarchy. He talks about a lot of key points that caught my attention when reading through it. One of the things he says is that “It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things.” (105) This quote seems really important to me because a leader is supposed to bring new ideas and beliefs into action and when that gets shut down immediately than it just seems like a leader cant lead the way a leader is supposed to.
Another interesting point he talks about that made me think about leaders who have gained their position through family lineage is when he said “Those who rise from private citizens to be princes merely by fortune have little trouble in rising but very much n maintaining their position.” (106) This made a lot of sense to me when I read it because I can relate to situations in my life that someone may have gotten something through fortune but has trouble maintaining it because of how little they worked to get where they are or what they have. He goes on to give examples of princes who have worked for the position they want like Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, and Theseus.
I agree that is interesting that he mentioned that leaders who earn their position are more likely to keep it than those who get it through fortune. I think this is because those who earn their position have to know so much about the position in order get it. On the other hand, if they just get it by fortune that does not mean that they know anything about it.
I agree with Machiavelli’s point that change breeds discontent. I feel that’s it in our nature as human’s to get used to doing things a certain way, and thus is difficult to accept a new ideology or system. That’s why his points about the specifics of who and how they rise to power will determine how responsive the general population is to their rule.
The first quote you mentioned goes right into the whole Cave paradox thing we were talking about last class. At the end of that video, they mentioned that the man who leads everyone outside is very likely to be killed by those same people. Machiavelli is saying the same thing here. Both philosophers have a very… grim view on humanity that is, unfortunately accurate. We have never liked change, I guess. not hundreds of years ago, and not even now.
I agree with the quote you included, and would argue that it is one of the hardest things to create something new and have people accept it. People are very judgmental and critical, and changing the way something goes can be very difficult as a leadership because of the backlash you could receive.