Comparing Socrates And Machiavelli's Prince

In the societies of Socrates, Hobbes’s Leviathan, and Machiavelli’s Prince, individuals were naïve. Individuals believed in a power to rule them, rather than standing up and thinking for themselves. While Machiavelli and Hobbes believed in instilling fear into their citizens, Socrates believed in equality and justice. Socrates would disagree with Machiavelli and Hobbes’ societies because they were run by the same government that Socrates was fighting against.
In Machiavelli’s Prince, the Prince acts as the ruling power over naïve individuals. The Prince believes that individuals are easily persuadable, but it is hard to hold them to a persuasion. “The character of people varies, and it is easy to persuade them of a thing, but difficult to keep them in that persuasion. And so it is necessary to order things so that when they no longer believe, they can be made to believe by force. For example, if tax collectors come to collect taxes and are upsetting the people, the Prince may kill the tax collector. Although it is cruel and wrong to murder, the Prince will claim the act was out of care for the people. The Prince would point the finger at the tax collectors and claim that he was the one that was wrong. Meanwhile, all the money the tax collectors are paying is actually going to the Prince. Individual’s in the Prince’s society naively manipulated into thinking that the Prince is acting out of a loving place
Snowden leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) and sent classified documents to be published that revealed that the NSA had surveillance systems that allowed them to watch everyone at all times. Snowden, knowing he would most likely be tried for treason and possibly put to death, sought asylum in