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'Prince' Mumpower defeated by Machiavellian tactics

January 16, 2009 — “To ... not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues.” – Sun Tzu

Since my folks moved from El Paso to Nashville I've become more interested in the politics of the Volunteer State.  Visiting them for Thanksgiving, I read a great interview in The Tennessean with the GOP’s Jason Mumpower.  Fully expecting to be the next Speaker of the House (Republicans just secured a 50-49 advantage in the lower house in the 2008 election), he bragged about being a reader of The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.

“In war, numbers alone confer no advantage.” – Sun Tzu.

It seems the Democrats played the Machiavelli card, however.  Sure, that meant that Jimmy Naifeh, Speaker of the House for nearly 20 years, wouldn’t get another term.  But all Democrats voted for moderate Republican Kent Williams, giving him a stunning upset.  For all of Mumpower’s bragging about bringing “a new order” that Machiavelli wrote about, he might have done well to read the rest of the quote.

“And one should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new order to things; for he who introduces it has all those who profit from the old order as his enemies; and he has only lukewarm allies in all those who might profit from the new. This lukewarmness partly stems from fear of their adversaries, who have the law on their side, and partly from the skepticism of men, who do not truly believe in new things unless they have personal experience in them.” – Niccolo Machiavelli

Much ire has been raised about the actions of the speaker-elect Williams.  State Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey called it “a huge setback for Republicans, because of one man."  And State GOP Chair Robin Smith said “Kent Williams has betrayed his constituents…in breaking his pledge…to vote for the nominee of the Republican caucus for Speaker of the House. He lied, in a quest for personal power, in league with [the Democrats], in their desire to retain power despite the results of the 2008 elections.” 

Perhaps both Ramsey and Smith should have shared Mumpower’s copy of The Prince, which says “…people are fickle by nature….[O]ne can make this generalization about men: they are ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit.”

As the Tennessean story points out, this means that more than committee chairs are at stake for the Tennessee GOP.  There’s also the position of Comptroller, Treasurer and Secretary of State to consider.  While Republicans in Tennessee still have the numerical advantage, nothing can be taken for granted from a Democratic Party that learned more about Mumpower’s favorite books that the Majority Leader himself.

“And that prince who bases his power entirely on…words, finding himself completely without other preparations, comes to ruin…” – Niccolo Machiavelli.