Comparing The Morals Of Prince And Letter From Birmingham Jail

The English philosopher John Locke was adamant that people are good, therefore, only needed a government to protect their natural rights. The belief that people are good natured humans led to the fundamentals of the United States Government. As such, our government should be basing their public policy on their principles. Unfortunately, this is not bona fide. Politicians create public policy that truly only benefits specific people, themselves, or groups of the nation and their interest because they fear losing them. Readings such as “Morals of Prince” by Niccolo Machiavelli, “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, and finally “ Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King exhibit the politician’s unethical tendencies to favor either

He urges those in power that if they “ want to keep their post must learn how not to be good, and use that knowledge, or refrain from using it, as necessity requires” (863). His ideas are actually showing that people in power remain so because they have the ability to do good but avoid doing so. Public policy is based on principles, yet politicians don’t create public policies that can do good for the people because they fear loss of power. In this case he is utilizing public policy to protect his power and therefore defending his personal interest. Furthering claims, he asserts “Since a prince cannot use this virtue of liberality in such as to become known for it unless he harms his own security”(865). Accordingly, we see that politicians avoid uses of virtue or in other words principles for his own interest which include his own security. Finally, Machiavelli describes a point of view that those in power take on the nature of humans. To rather be safe and protect their interest Machiavelli shows that politicians corrupt principles we base public policy on by stating “ For it is a good general rule about men, that they are ungrateful, fickle, liars and deceivers, fearful of danger and greedy for gain”(866). In sum, Machiavelli depicts politicians taking different points of view on principles therefore public policy in

His thought on helping Irish families by creating a meat market derived from their children shine a light on the nature of politicians and their policies. He essentially challenges the politicians “ I desire those politicians who dislike my overture, and may perhaps be bold to attempt an answer, that they will first ask the parents of these mortals whether they would not at this day think it a great happiness” (854). With this in mind, he creates a thought that shows that the greed of the landlords and the politicians interest would lead them to do anything to protect them and sacrifice morals to achieve what they want. His entire argument is based on the idea favoring the rich who could benefit from such delicacies as a metaphor for their habits of ruining the many to protect themselves or their own