Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose - Again

Quintus Cicero (who apparently possessed a penchant for outrageous acts of cruelty) is reputed to have penned advice for his brother, Marcus Tullius Cicero, on how to get elected as Consul of Rome over 2000 years ago - pre-dating the more notorious 'The Prince' by Nicolo Machiavelli by over 1500 years. Eureka Street has drawn attention to this in the context of the current Federal election, but (at least) one aspect is clearly demonstrated by the WA State Election in 2013.

Quintus Cicero wrote that anyone seeking election should:
Promise everything to everyone. If problems arise after the election it is easier to deal with them if you are in power.

Sound familiar? In the 2013 election campaign, Colin Barnett promised 'no forced amalgamations of local government', most specifically to his western suburbs constituents. Just a few months later he is in the process of forcing such amalgamations across the metropolitan area and his constituents are faced with the prospect of a single mega-council.

I wonder (rhetorically) what the result of the election would have been if he had been honest before the election.

Methinks, however, that Emperor Barnett has also been influenced by Machiavelli, who noted that a prince is praised for keeping his word but is also praised for the illusion of being reliable in keeping his word. 

A prince, therefore, should only keep his word when it suits his purposes, but do his utmost to maintain the illusion that he does keep his word and that he is reliable in that regard.

Emperor Col seems to have taken the first part of that to heart, most notoriously (but not solely - http://brokenpromises.org.au) in forced local government amalgamations, but failed to grasp the latter. 


I suppose we should be thankful for small mercies. At least we can see his lies for what they are.