Thomas Jefferson and Pimps and Spartans and other Filth
Machiavellian 'virtu' and real virtue are a world apart. Not to dunk upon Machiavelli, because the Prince was clearly a work of necessity and the disourses on Titus Livy are the real deal. But Real Politik and the desire of men to be hard rather than good christians is getting tired. The history of the world is full of men who are powerful: excellent in their own regard. They have panache. They say things that sound right. They do things that look right. But they are ultimately evil, and behave in ways that are true to their internal evil, and the evil of the peoples that they stemmed from. They delight in the exercise of power, and the exercise of their power is not for righteousness. Leonidas and Trump (who I will likely wind up voting for) are poster children. Molon Labe. Come and take, says the spartan king, who eats of the bread made by slaves, on grain grown by slaves, upholding his evil government that relies on the work of brutally surpressed slaves, their raped wives,