Lao-Tzu was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He is known as the author of the Tao Te Ching, the founder of philosophical Taoism, and a god in Taoism and traditional Chinese religions. Niccolò Machiavelli was a writer of the Renaissance period. They are both philosophers that have completely different perspective on how a country should run and how the leaders should act. While both philosophers’ writing can be very useful to the government in some ways. The leader should not be cruel or mean to the people but should know when to tough. The big difference is how they disagree most strongly on how a government should run and how they believe in war. They also disagree on when mercy should be given and how the money they own should be spent. Neither one of the ideas that they have for the government will work for the world today, because the world is not as good and peaceful as Lao-tzu describes in Tao-Te Ching, and not as chaotic or mean as Machiavelli says in The Prince.
Lao-Tzu’s writing is mainly based off the religion Taoism. This type of religion believes that the way of the universe is the natural way of life and that it shouldn’t be interfered with by man. Lao-Tzu believes that one shouldn’t have total control of the government, that everything should run its course as it is supposed to do not as the humans want to make it. He believes that the ruler should be carefree and should not rule forcefully but be kind and silent. That he should stay in the shadows