Lao Tzu's Teachings on Effective Government

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Recommended: Two-party system of American politics

American political government contained two large parties which control most of the Congress: the Democrat and Republic parties. Both parties have held different points of view on different topics such as health care. However an effective government is also based on a how a leader governs the country. Lao Tzu was an ancient Chinese philosopher, and Niccolo Machiavelli, in The Prince, an Italian philosopher, present ideas that are very contradictory to each other. Lao Tzu appears liberal as a master who will not control the people while Machiavelli states a prince must emerge and take control of his people. Although both appear to be more contradictory, but they are appear more consentient than they are appear to be. Since these two individuals both made a claim about effective leadership, it became natural to oppose the two as an effort to better understand what attributes a successful leader must possess. Therefore, according to the present government, it would best to combine both extreme ideas, which are Lao Tzu’s teachings on how to manage the government and Machiavelli’s tactics of how to maintain power as a leader in order to develop a more effective and prosperous government.

According Lao Tzu’s teaching, his laissez-faire attitude was the most suitable in today’s government. He states, “If you want to be a great leader, you must learn to follow the Tao. Stop trying to control. Let go of fixed plans and concepts, and the world will govern itself” (Verse 57). This has supported by his writing that he believed that a successful form of government depend on the good relations between the people and its leader. Also he strongly believed that once cannot have total control and that things would be run as its course when the t...

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...ill just do what the leader ordered because they fear the consequences of not doing it. Notably, Lao Tzu’s perceptual teaching and Machiavelli’s rationality tactics were both too intense and harsh; either method will not persist long in today’s modern politic government where people believe more in freedom.

However, it is because both Lao Tzu’s and Machiavelli’s ideas were too extreme, that the most effective government is to combine both ideas from the two philosophers in order to balance out. Lao believed that the less the leader or government intervenes; the happier the people. While Machiavelli believed that the importance of gaining power and holding the state is to be held at any cost. Hence a ruler who is both aggressive and passionate in moderation will be able to gain the trust of people, win their loyalty, and have the ability to stay in the government.

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