Qualities of a Prince

Qualities of a Prince Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of the Prince” gives the idea of what makes an all around good ruler. He wrote guidelines touching several topics such as war, reputation, generosity, mercy, and cruelty. All of these topics preach words on how to avoid being hated but still keep power. Machiavelli’s guidelines say, a prince should hold absolute control of their territories, and there should be no limit necessary to accomplish this result. Concerning military, war must always be on a Prince’s mind, even in times of peace. They must study and understand the environment surrounding them, so they can defend it. “If the enemy were here with our army, which of the two of us would have the advantage?” The prince that studies historical battles will have the advantage. If any mistakes were made in the past, they must learn from them and improve on it. A good Prince must rely on defense. He must bastion his city. A bastion city is unlikely to even come across an enemies mind to attack. He believes that soldiers are useless to the Prince because all they are motivated by is money. Then Machiavelli continues on to say, that it is better to become generous and not worry about being called a miser. “And above all other things a prince must guard himself against being despised and hated.” Furthermore, it is better to be called missed because it produces blame without hatred.
He argues it is better to be feared then to be loved. But, the Prince should avoid being hated, which can be accomplished by not confiscating the property of his subjects. The Prince shouldn’t violate his people’s personal property and use cruelty for the common good. He should still be feared to keep crime low. The prince should be merciful, but he must not misuse it.
Therefore, all of these qualities make up a good ruler. Now of days, the ruler of America has in my opinion failed to reach these qualities. Bush has lead people to believe that he is a liar and an idiot. When