...who has but the few as his enemies, can easily and without much scandal make himself secure, but he who has the public as a whole for his enemy can never...greater his cruelty, the weaker does his regime become. In such a case the best remedy he can adopt is to make the populace his friend. Though to speak now...

...such programs would undoubtedly have agreed with the Machiavelli of The Discourses who wrote, « he who has the public as a whole for his enemy can never make himself secure » (p. 155). This Concessionary wing of elite thought was consequently fully cognizant of what Antonio...