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Advising princes how to rule he states, "You must know, then, that there are two methods of fighting, the one by law, the other by force: the first method is that of men, the second of beasts; but as the first method is often insufficient, one must have recourse to the second. It is therefore necessary for a prince to know well how to use both the beast and the man" (Machiavelli 58). This is extremely telling in the current situation with the executive branch as well, in many ways.
For example, many people disapprove of the methods of security and incarceration since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. They believe many of the tenets of the Patriot Act, along with the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and other facilities are unethical and go against rights granted in the Constitution. However,...
It behaves like a "beast" in many of its practices and often stands on the rights of man in so doing. The executive branch knows how to use power effectively as both beast and man, and that is a little frightening when contemplating what could happen if the executive branch takes its power too far and becomes far more beast than man.
Just as in Machiavelli's time, power corrupts those with the most power today, and he shows this in his book, as well. He writes, "Badly used are those cruelties which, although being few at the outset, grow with the passing of time instead of disappearing" (Machiavelli 32). This could point directly to the executive branch and many of their practices, from approving water-boarding torture to the "outing" of Valerie Plame, the ex-CIA agent. To disagree with the executive branch is to face the wrath of the branch, and these cruelties multiply through time, instead of disappearing.
References
Niccolo Machiavelli, the Prince, ed. Peter Bondanella, trans. Peter Bondanella Oxford: Oxford University, 1998.
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