Season 3 Podcast 175 The Road to Power, Machiavellian Pragmatism, Rule # 20, Never Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste

The Road to Power, Machiavellian Pragmatism, Rule # 20: “Never Let a Good Crisis go to Waste.”The quote, “Never let a good crisis go to waste” is first attributed to Winston Churchill, who was pushing to form the United Nations during the dark days of WWII.  Whereas I am a great fan of Winston Churchill, I abhor Machiavellian Pragmatism. The statement by Churchill in one instance may be fundamentally useful if governed by experience and good judgment, but as a principle to live by, it comes straight out of Machiavelli’s playbook of how to gain power and how to hold power. Nothing could be more dangerous to freedom than to use every crisis as a means to destroy law, destroy the Bill of Rights, and to change the Constitution. And that is exactly what is happening in America today.Machiavelli said,“The prince who relies entirely on fortune is lost when it changes.  I believe also that he will be successful who directs his actions according to the spirit of the times and that he whose actions do not accord with the times will not be successful.” (Nicolo Machiavelli, The Prince)“The phrase, “the spirit of the times” is rather freewheeling. It can refer to fads, cultural shifts, sudden changes in beliefs, philosophies, or moral revolutions (such as the ‘turn on, tune in, and drop out’ drug culture and sexual revolution of the sixties. In Machiavellian fashion, “the spirit of the times” is amoral. It is power Machiavelli is talking about, not truth or virtue or good.  He believes in manipulating the cultural revolution for personal advantage, which is exactly what Timothy Leary, who coined the phrase ‘turn on, tune in, and drop out’, did when talking to 30,000 hippies in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.  He became an icon on college campuses and spokesmen for the LSD and marijuana movement. As a result, today in many states marijuana is now legal.The cultural movement in America today is toward anti-Americanism, socialism, one world government, and libertarianism. The liberal movement has adopted that course and has become its leader. Their motto is ‘never let a good crisis go to waste’ which is an extreme form of “directing actions according to the spirit of the times.” For example, anytime someone is killed with a gun, the left pushes to have the Second Amendment repealed.  In the same breath they encourage violence in the streets by defunding the police, releasing violent criminals from prison, making police the enemy and the criminal the victim, by encouraging riots, by encouraging violent demonstrations and destruction of monuments and statues commemorating the brave patriots of the past, and even by encouraging harassment of conservative judges or congressmen or others of power who disagree with their liberal policies. I have assigned it as Rule # 20 simply by chance. I took the liberty to classify and divide the suggestions Machiavelli made to the Medici. “The spirit of the times” just happened to be in the twentieth spot on my list. By ‘directing one’s actions according to the spirit of the times,’ one must not only ignore the morality of the movement but also the future consequences. There is an ancient phrase, Carpe diem, which means “to urge someone to make the most of the present time and give little thought to the future.” A common phrase is ‘seize the day’ or ‘seize the moment.’ Another for it is ‘pick the fruit while it is ripe.’ And today is ripe for revolution and the left is making use of it. The liberals have mastered the process and by adopting as their motto, ‘never let a good crisis go to waste,’ they have institutionalized Carpe diem into their political process. They ride high the waves of social tides and champion all popular movements such as Black Lives Matter. “I want to be your champion,’ said Hillary Clinton while running for president.