Lao-Tzu, Machiavelli, and the American Government

Lao-Tzus Thoughts from the Tao-te Ching and Machiavellis The Qualities of a Prince twain ready the ultimate goal of making better leaders. The tactics that for each one writer chooses to present as a guide for the leader atomic number 18 almost opposite of each other. Todays American government would benefit from a combination of the two extreme themes. Lao-Tzus laissez-faire attitude towards the economy, as self-colored as his small surmount, home defense military is appealing to a liberal person.Machiavellis attitude towards miserliness and outseter taxes, term being endlessly prep atomic number 18d for war, would appeal to a conservative person. The writers argon in parallelism on some issues, much(prenominal) as taxes, but other ideas, such as government involvement in the everyday lives of citizens are on the whole opposed to one another. Lao-Tzu believes in moderation and small government. He states that a leader should stay within his country and govern his peopl e only. Lao-tzu and Machiavelli are political philosophers writing in two distinct lands and two different times.Lao-tzu was an ancient Chinese philosopher from 6th century BC, the author of Tao-te Ching, and Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher who lived 2000 years after Lao-tzus time, author of Prince. They are both philosophers but have totally different perspective on how to be a good leader. turn both philosophers writing is instructive. Lao-tzus advice issues from detached view of a universal principle Machiavellis advice is very personal perhaps demanding.Both philosophers idea will not work for todays world, because that modern world is not as perfect as Lao-tzu described in Tao-te Ching, and not as chaotic as Machiavelli illustrated in Prince. In comparing and contrasting the governmental philosophies of the nifty thinkers Lao-Tzu and Machiavelli, I have found a pleasant mix of both of their ideas would be the scoop up for America today. Lao-Tzus laisse-faire attit ude towards the economy, as well as his small scale military is appealing to my liberal side, while Machiavellis attitude towards miserliness which causes low taxes appeals to the right wing.These great thinkers contradict the popular saying all great thinkers think alike. They have several ideas, such as taxes, that are the same, while other ideas, like the involvement of government in citizens everyday lives are totally opposite. I shall start with the ideas of Machiavelli, then move on to Lao-Tzus, and ultimately a comparison and application into American life. Niccolo Machiavelli believes in a strong government. The leader should be strong and feared. I believe he gets this idea from the fear of God.