Niccolò Machiavelli was a sixteenth century Italian philosopher who is said to be the founder of modern political science. But he was first and foremost a civil servant whose name will always be associated with the use of cunning and manipulation as a means of controlling the common people. In his book, The Prince he relates the strengths and weaknesses of foxes and lions to different human characteristics, and there are some timely insights into what’s going on in our world; in every time and place and at every level.
He saw the strength of the lion as powerful feelings of loyalty to family, tribe and nation. Such people display loyalty, patriotism, faith and honour. But while they are in the ascendance the foxes are nibbling at their power base; foxes are political wheeler-dealers, unscrupulous lawyers, intellectual nit-pickers, speculators and manipulators of men. The foxes, he argued would eventually outwit and overthrow the lions and rule as a party of twisters, liars and cheats. Yet he felt that as had happened so often in the past, men of conservatism and persistence would rise again, sweep the reign of foxes aside for stability to return again. Faith, patriotism, and national honour would be restored and claim the allegiance of the people.
However, most experts in the Machiavellian principle believe that there can be no human progress or evolution. ‘Society,’ they say, ‘is doomed to repeat forever the cycle of rule by lions, the rule by foxes and back again. There is nothing new, only the record of human folly.’
A gloomy prospect, isn’t it? New Labour swept to power with a promise of, ‘Things are gonna get better,’ and before you know it people were wearing T-shirts with Tony Blair’s name miss-spelt; B-Liar. The foxes had been nibbling, the lions were already growing weak and soon there would be the inevitable overthrow.
But is this the best we can hope for? Will the wheel come off the Obama band wagon dashing all hope of a new world order? And why the niggling doubts about Cameron even before he gets his hands on the levers of power – if he ever does. Is he too smooth to be wholesome? Does he lead an army of lions destined to replace the shabby fat foxes or will he prove to be nothing more than the same old meal of duplicity on a different plate?
You’ll remember the ‘There is Hope’ campaign in Ireland a few years ago, and of course there is always hope, but what is that hope based on? Too many of us live in a world of escapism, looking only to the day when Christ will return and sweep us all away to our safe little cabins in the corner of Glory Land. But such thinking detaches us from reality, ‘So heavenly minded we’re of no earthly use.’
There’s a revealing Scripture in Paul’s letter to Titus; ‘We look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of Jesus Christ will be revealed.’ Was he referring to the day when the skies will part and Christ will return? Maybe, but some think Paul was pointing to the day when the ‘glory of Jesus Christ’ would be seen by a watching world in the here and now.
How can that happen? It always happens when God’s people are salt and light; salt to add savour, and light to show his way in a dark Machiavellian world of grubby politics and a grotesquely unfair economic system. That alone can bring hope of permanent change.
