"[B]ecause in every Republic there exists the Nobles and the Populace, it may be a matter of doubt in whose hands the guard is better placed. . . . [W]ithout doubt, if the object of the Nobles and of the Ignobles (populace) is considered, it will be seen that the former have a great desire to dominate, and the latter a desire not to be dominated and consequently a greater desire to live free, being less hopeful of usurping it (liberty) than are the Nobles: so that the People placed in charge to guard the liberty of anyone, reasonably will take better care of it; for not being able to take it away themselves, they do not permit others to take it away." -- Machiavelli, Discourses on Livy, Book I, Chapter V, <http://www.constitution.org/mac/disclivy1.htm#1:05>
"[I]t is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite. And you have to understand this, that a prince, especially a new one, cannot observe all those things for which men are esteemed, being often forced, in order to maintain the state, to act contrary to faith, friendship, humanity, and religion. Therefore it is necessary for him to have a mind ready to turn itself accordingly as the winds and variations of fortune force it, yet, as I have said above, not to diverge from the good if he can avoid doing so, but, if compelled, then to know how to set about it." -- Machiavelli, The Prince, Chapter XIII, <http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince18.htm>
Politics outside the West has to be governed by both considerations: without the latter, countries outside the West get easily dominated by the multinational empire led by Washington; and without the former, countries outside the West will eventually collapse from within (i.e., either become failed states with no law and order, or transform themselves into an image of the Washington Consensus on their own). -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>