The politics of fear…

Politics have no relation to morals.

Niccolò Machiavelli

I re-read ‘All the President’s Men’ this week and it's that which sparks this Reflection. The book and the subsequent film are very well worth a read and a watch.

Many will have heard of Richard Nixon and Watergate, although not so many will know the full story.

As a teenager, I followed events avidly. Even the UK papers carried many stories of the uncovering of the Nixon Administration’s dirty tricks campaign. The intent being to ensure Nixon ran for President against the most beatable Democratic contender. The irony being that Nixon was so well-liked after his first term, he would have certainly beaten any contender.

The two reporters most associated with discovering what the Nixon administration was up to are Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (the authors of the book). They worked for the Washington Post. They and the Post were courageous in doggedly uncovering the sordid affair despite all the claims of ‘fake news’ from the Nixon Administration. Sound familiar?

Most of the dirty tricks carried out were ‘harmless’ pranks to disrupt the Democrat’s campaigning. Although a forged letter brought great personal hurt to one of the Democratic candidates, ending his part in the campaign to become their Presidential nominee. It was the bungled break-in to the Democratic offices in the Watergate building that toppled the house of cards.

We’ll never know what President Nixon knew and when he knew it, but as is usual it was the cover-up that did for him not the original acts.

The person who pulled strings behind the dirty-tricks campaign was H R (Bob) Haldeman, the ‘Assistant to the President’. Haldeman was a no-nonsense type who asked much from people. He was intelligent, abrasive, manipulative and much trusted by the President.

Sound like anyone familiar from recent resignations?

The world of politics has attracted the Haldemans of the world for centuries. They are unelected and tend to get their trusted role because they achieve something of great advantage to their boss. They then maintain their position using the reflected power of the person they serve, coupled with a culture of fear.

They carry various titles. Chief of Staff, Special Advisor, Personal Assistant or Secretary etc. They invariably make it their job to know where the ‘bodies are buried’. Indeed, the word secretary is derived from the Latin for ‘person entrusted with secrets’.

The daddy of them all was Niccolò Machiavelli, an Italian Renaissance diplomat and sometime secretary to the Republic of Florence. His name is now synonymous with political deceit and deviousness. He wrote the book on it!

‘The Prince’ is Machiavelli’s instruction guide for new Royalty of those times. These days he would entitle it something like ‘Power in Politics’. The general theme being that for a political leader to survive in power, it’s OK to use immoral means.

The book has given us some memorable quotes,

“…he who seeks to deceive will always find someone who will allow himself to be deceived”.

“Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved”

“The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present”.

“The vulgar crowd always is taken by appearances, and the world consists chiefly of the vulgar”.

“Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and greedy of gain”.

There are many more, and all reflect that Niccolò thought little of the people being governed. You might say no change there then, in modern politics.

What’s interestingly chilling is that some in the business world now offer The Prince as a guide for good leadership. I’m not convinced even though Niccolò did offer a couple of tips worth taking on board,

“There is no other way to guard yourself against flattery than by making men understand that telling you the truth will not offend you.”

“The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”

In truth, none of the Haldemans of the world ever enjoy power for long. One way or another their heads roll, literally in the case of Thomas Cromwell, as the leader they serve inevitably becomes disillusioned by that close counsellor.

We saw it a week or so ago, and even good old Niccolò fell afoul of regime change (although unusually for those times he kept his head)

So, if you too wish to be the power behind, or on, the throne, read the Prince. And of all the quotes keep this one in mind. It's the very definition of duplicity in action,

“.. it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite.”

A politician's charter for the ages ….

Take care.