Quotations from Machiavelli

“To begin with, there has never been a case of a new prince disarming his subjects. Indeed, whenever he found them disarmed, he proceeded to arm them. For by arming your subjects, you make their arms your own. Those among them who are suspicious become loyal, while those who are already loyal remain so, and from subjects, they are transformed into partisans. Though you cannot arm them all, nonetheless you increase your safety among those you leave unarmed by extending privileges to those whom you arm…
When you disarm your subjects, however, you offend them by showing that, either from cowardliness or from lack of faith, you distrust them; and either conclusion will induce them to hate you. Moreover, since it is impossible for you to remain unarmed, you would have to resort to mercenaries, whose limitations have already been discussed. Even if such troops were good, however, they could never be good enough to defend you from powerful enemies and doubtful subjects. Therefore, as I have said, a new prince in a newly acquired state has always taken measures to arm his subjects, and history is full of examples proving that this is so.”
From chapter 20 of The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. “Machiavellian” is a word that means cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous in politics and in life. If you read The Prince, you will realize that Machiavelli simply describes the behavior and nature of current politics, both in the rule of the state and in the rule of the church. The observation he made regarding disarming and arming subjects could not be more true. When President Obama has to have his soldiers in Afghanistan disarmed in order to come into his presence, as happened recently, it is a sign of absolute distrust and disrespect. Removing arms from loyal citizens is offensive and eventually destructive of the strength, since the military of itself is never sufficiently adequate to defend a state.