If Lao Tzu was our president, he will not initiate any action to prevent any future terrorist attack even after the suffering from the tragic event on September 11. He feels that if we try to take control, "Violence, even well intentioned, always rebound upon oneself" (24). Although I have to agree that violence will always rebound on oneself, we cannot simply do nothing to protect ourselves. We can't let terrorists attack our cities one after another, nor can we let Iraq equip itself with nuclear weapons. We must take action by holding up our defenses, use foreign inspections for warnings, and violence if necessary. Furthermore, Lao Tzu does not support our economic system that revolves around machinery.
Because Lao Tzu believe that labor-saving machines are a waste of time, his country will suffer from discontented citizens who will eventually migrate to a country full of desires like technology, wealth, and dreams. In Lao Tzu's ideal government, people should be content because "They enjoy the labor of their hands and don't waste time inventing labor-saving machines" (31). Truthfully, humans are naturally born lazy and intelligent. We invent new ideas, machines, and systems to make our life easier. For example, in the time period where earth was inhabited with cavemen, they walked about, hunted, and slept naked. Gradually, as time passes by, we develop more advanced hunting weapons and techniques, a set of language to communicate more efficiently, and clothing for comfort, warmth, and protection. These are the simple natural law of human activity, so if these natural ways are not satisfied, the people will go elsewhere. The human mind is not impossible to be governed, for Machiavelli understands how to do so.
Machiavelli understands the natural ways of human activity. Machiavelli once wrote, "One can generally say this about men: that they are ungrateful, fickle, simulators and deceivers, avoiders of danger, greedy for gain; and while you work for their good they are completely yours, offering you their blood, their property, their lives, and their sons, as I said earlier, when danger is far away; but when it comes nearer to you they turn away" (44).
