The current situation facing the state of Michigan's tax increase is interesting when compared to Machiavelli's: The Qualities of the Prince, especially the section called "On Generosity and Miserliness." This section describes the duties of the prince to maintain generosity towards his subjects and citizens, and how he must keep his reputation and stick to his word, because if he appears to be generous, and promises the people generosity, and then doesn't come through, he will be hated and mistrusted by them. For example, if he "burden[s] the people with excessive taxes" and raises funds, he will be hated because his "generosity" will have benefited the few, the rich, and ruined the poor. This reminded me of the current situation in Michigan because Governor Granholm has a duty to rescue this state out of it's financial struggles and economic disparity, but she must be careful, because even at the thought of raising taxes, the people of this state were up in arms, and looking past the fact that it may or may not be her fault that we are in the poverty that we are, our state is in dire need of money. But, no matter what the Governor does, she has already been mistrusted because of her generosity and then lack of, so, like the prince who is rejected by his subjects, she is being rejected by this state.
http://www.wwj.com/topic/ap_news.php?story=AP/APTV/State/MI/n/MI--Granholm-Legacy.1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment