For a Kinder, Gentler Society
Machiavelli in America
  • Thomas Block
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Machiavelli in America.
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Machiavelli in America traces the influence of the Florentine thinker on American politics, from the Founders (c. 1770s) through today's rough-and-tumble political panorama. Machiavelli's ideas have been re-interpreted internationally as 'real-politik.' He proposed that the 'ends justify the means,' and that any manner of fraud, violence or corruption must be utilized in attaining and retaining power. People, he assured us, are so mean, small and selfish that they will only act under necessity, so the successful prince must force the population, through whatever means necessary, to follow his dictates. He maintained that the most powerful form of fraud was the appearance of religiosity, and said that the successful prince must hold no art higher than that of war. The last section of the book offers a response to this kind of thinking, with a specific, implementable program that will begin to devolve the power of American democracy back to the people and away from the shrinking numbers of oligarchs who control the political system through Machiavellian means and vast amounts of money.

About the Author

Thomas Block is a patriot pained by our nation’s falling short of the noble aims for which we strive. His last nonfiction work, A Fatal Addiction: War in the Name of God (Algora 2012), examined how the United States, one of the most religious countries in the world, could also be the most violent. A writer and artist as well, Tom has several nonfiction books, a trilogy of plays, and a series of paintings in the works.

Reflecting the richness of thought and depth of perspective found in Tom's books and other works, he has been an invited participant in the Jiwar Artist Residency in Barcelona, Spain, and in 2013 he was invited to give an interview with Steven Appel for the Queens College Center for Ethnic, Racial & Religious Understanding in New York.

About the Book
In this disturbing, erudite and highly readable book by author, playwright and artist Tom Block, America is shown to be a surprising example of Machiavellian politics, utilizing all of the post-modern methods of information distribution and...
In this disturbing, erudite and highly readable book by author, playwright and artist Tom Block, America is shown to be a surprising example of Machiavellian politics, utilizing all of the post-modern methods of information distribution and "legal" fraud and corruption. Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, George W. Bush, the Supreme Court's recent Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission (2010) and the Super PACs it spawned, the massive amounts of money ("power's master key"), the intermingling of the language of religion and war, and the 90% negative advertising of the 2012 Presidential campaign (channeling Machiavelli's dictum that the adversary must be "assassinated," though in contemporary America by character assassinating) and even Barack Obama's Machiavellian machinations are looked at in light of the Renaissance political philosopher's ideas. The final sections look for and find an antidote. Chapter Four (The Threshold of a New Era) explores the specific reasons that we might hope that the citizenry can wrest the public square from its amoral, bottomless Machiavellian pit. Morality can become the center of public interaction ' even in the bloody 20th century, prophet activists such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela were able to change the course of history for the better, centering their political movements not in Machiavelli's ideas but in ethical behavior working for the common good.
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Year: 2014
BISAC: POL025000
BISAC: PHI005000
Soft Cover
ISBN: 978-1-62894-066-4
Price: USD 22.95
Hard Cover
ISBN: 978-1-62894-067-1
Price: USD 32.95
eBook
ISBN: 978-1-62894-068-8
Price: USD 22.95
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• A Fatal Addiction —   War in the Name of God
• The Folly of War —   American Foreign Policy 1898-2005

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