Political EYE: Machiavelli according to Mike Jones

There is plenty for Political EYE to cover this week.
The deadline for the grand jury in the Darren Wilson case has been pushed back to January, when it will be too cold (the powers that be must be thinking) for people to demonstrate for days on end, when and if St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch tells us that his grand jury did not hand down an indictment of the police shooter.
But the EYE will have to come back to that, for we have here in the mailbag a long screed from our friend Mike Jones, senior policy advisor to County Executive Charlie Dooley and a member of the state school board. So, Let’s hear from Mike Jones.
Mike Jones writes:
There is a general rule of life that’s an iron law of politics; people only treat you fairly because they have too. And by have to, I mean there would be negative consequences for them if they didn’t. Absent that fear of negative consequences, it is the natural inclination of people to take advantage of those who are in a less powerful position or those who refuse to assert the power they have. While this may not always be true in life, though mostly it is, it’s always true in politics.
In an earlier commentary in The American I defined politics as the art and science of acquiring power for the purpose of making public policy. But what is power? For me, power is the will and capacity to punish those forces or people that oppose you. To have power you must have both capacity and will; one without the other is not enough. Having the will to do something without the capacity makes you impotent; having the capacity to do it without the will means you are weak. The political arena is no place for the weak or the impotent.
Why must you punish, why not reward? Machiavelli writes that if the Prince must chose between being loved or being feared, it is better to be feared. Why? Because no matter how much they love the Prince, they will always love themselves more. And if they have to choose between their welfare and the Prince’s, they will choose who they love more, themselves.
However, if the Prince is feared, then when they have to choose between Prince and themselves, they will invariably choose the Prince. Why? For the same reasons, love of self. Self-preservation is nature’s first law, so it’s their love of self and the Prince’s capacity to punish that compels the political compliance that affection could not.
So when you hear African-American elected officials brag about how much white Democrats like them, and you wonder why they or we never have anything to show for the affection, now you know. Politicians who worry about being popular will never be effective and eventually won’t even be popular.
What about the current political condition of the Black community of St. Louis County? For the last 25 years, the political operating assumption was that African Americans would receive fair treatment from the political process because, after all, this is (a’hem) post-civil rights, post-racial America. Right? In fact, African Americans were so certain of this that African-American leaders made sure their political agenda was to blend in, support the status quo and not cause any problems. “You know, if they don’t notice we’re black, everything will be okay.”
Now, that may be a sound strategy if you’re a statistically small minority in a hostile environment. However, when you become 250,000 people located in a specific geography, you need a different plan.
The political reality is the Democratic Party of St. Louis County owes everything, including its existence, to African-American voters. Until a critical mass of African Americans moved to the county, to put it bluntly, white Democrats were ass out. Democrats controlled nothing in St. Louis County before the arrival of African Americans. Every white Democratic victory is due to the margins black voters give Democrats. Buzz Westfall was no political kingpin; he was just a white guy who benefited from black political support.
This is currently a time of high emotions in the black community, with just cause. The rampant disregard for the lives of young black men; the lack of adequate economic opportunity for anyone black, regardless of their educational attainment; and the complete failure to even consider the African-American community when discussing the future of this region are all cause for righteous anger. But I will share with you something I learned as a young politician from men whose experience was the basis of their wisdom: your anger may be righteous, but don’t get mad; get even.
Which brings us to this moment in history. African-American elected officials in St. Louis County have come of age. Under the leadership of County Councilwoman Hazel Erby, they have formed a new political organization to speak specifically to the interests and needs of the black Community in St. Louis County. The name they have given this effort speaks volumes: The Fannie Lou Hamer Democratic Club of St. Louis County.
Like Sister Hamer they, too, “are sick and tired of being sick and tired.” In picking this name and aligning themselves with the historic heroism of Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, white county Democrats have been put on notice: the days of plantation politics are over, and there’s no reason for blacks to be political sharecroppers when they control the outcome of every county election.
Beginning with the election for county executive this November, Black leadership has the chance to change the political calculus in St. Louis County. It is a historic opportunity they must use to redefine the relationship between the African-American community and county democrats. There is one only way to achieve that goal, and that is to deny the white Democrats control of the executive function of county government.
This would handicap their ability to control county politics and announce that there’s a new power player in the game. It must be crystal clear that this crippling blow was delivered by African-American voters at the direction of an independent and empowered black political leadership that is saying, unequivocally, either we are included in the game as equals, or there won’t  be a game for anybody.
Of the many lessons I’ve learned in the last 35 years as a professional politician, among the most important is you must always negotiate from strength and never, never ask for what you can take. For too many years, African-American Democrats in St. Louis County have asked to be included in the power equation, but power is never acquired by saying “please.”
Don’t take my word for it, listen to the wisdom of our ancestors, hear the voice of the great Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and it never will. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those they oppress. Men may not get all they pay for in this world; but they must pay for all they get.”
https://m.stlamerican.com/news/political_eye/article_8d73795e-3ed5-11e4-aaee-5f64fd098363.html?mode=jqm