I was listening to the interviews that the Valley Independent Sentinel taped recently of Mayor Tony Staffieri and his challenger, Dan Foley.
They are on YouTube and the Valley Independent’s website if you want to listen to them.
In Foley’s second tape I was taken aback by the following, verbatim exchange between Eugene Driscoll, who was conducting the interview, and Mr. Foley. This exchange is at the beginning of the “Part 2” segment:
Eugene: “That flier that you sent out where it said that Derby was one of Connecticut’s 10 worst cities for violent crime … that was from 2004 … was that a mistake to put that, that sentence on a flier?”
Foley: “Not really, no, because crime in Derby is still a problem and we feel that it needs to be addressed.”
This immediately brought to mind one person, Niccolo Machiavelli!
Machiavelli was an Italian philosopher and the principal founder of modern political science. He lived in Itally from 1469 to 1527.
Machiavelli has become associated with any proposal where “the end justifies the means”. This refers to acts that are guided exclusively by results, ignoring any moral implications.
In other words when you use any means, fair or foul, iron or poison, for achieving your goals and in the pursuit of your self-interest.
I personally don’t agree with the statement, “the end justifies the means” and I don’t particularly want a Mayor who espouses this low level of morality.
Machiavelli was a very cynical man, he also said, “A prince never lacks legitimate reasons to break his promise.”
“Politics have no relation to morals.”
“Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.”
I don’t feel comfortable with these beliefs either. I don’t think there is ever a good reason to break a promise. I believe that politics can be moral. And I believe that men are a lot smarter than Machiavelli (or Mr. Foley) is giving them credit for.
The writer is a Republican running for re-election to the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation.
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