Word: machiavellis
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...been easy. The agitation for television is constant. When Bush v. Gore reached the high court and the networks demanded entry with cameras, the chorus grew particularly loud. Rehnquist said no. His denial seems anachronistic, but it represents a deep understanding of the modern sensibility. Like Machiavelli, he knows how important an air of mystery is for maintaining authority. And TV's very essence is to demystify. Everything it touches becomes familiar and ordinary, ripe for irony and camp...
...Harvard's 14 or so registered members of the GOP, I find the whole business rather entertaining--and as Machiavelli noted wisely, it is a far better thing to be feared than loved. Nevertheless, my heart goes out to my fearful fellow students, with their Mondale-Ferraro memories and their yearning glances at socialist Canada--and so I try, without much success, to point out that a Bush victory in November might not be all that...
Stanley Bing's most recent book is What Would Machiavelli...