In reading Machiavelli's
The Prince there were several interesting, and outrageous statements made. I had a couple in mind until I came across this particular example and nothing else seemed comparable as the most disturbing piece of advise. "Besides, a prince will never lack for legitimate excuses to explain away his breaches of faith." and then, "the man succeeded best who knew best how to play the fox... you must be a great liar and hypocrite." What a disturbing bit of information that is, telling a man that in order to be the best prince he can be he needs to be a great liar and to play the fox, being a sly slimy liar basically.
I think that to be in a position of power one definitely needs to be a smooth talker in the sense of having a way with words and being able to keep the attention of the audience as a whole, but I don't necessarily think that entails being a liar and a sleazeball. The sad thing is that many politicians today are the exact epitome of this. They will say anything that they feel would get you on board with them, and then once they hook you BAM out comes the switch of hand, and their true agenda comes out. I think that to be an effective leader, one who has a hope of leading for a long time and truly making a change/difference in your area integrity is the biggest thing that you have going for you. Sure you can catch people's attention for a short time with empty promises, and other lies but eventually the truth comes out and hopefully the people can see that and rectify the situation.
