We can advise the people not to create myths or engage in myth-perpetuation about those who rule over you or govern them, but according to Machiavelli, the vulgar crowd, which he says the world consists chiefly of, prefer illusions.
“Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.”
— Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, April 24, 1816.
“The people are always the source of power, but they are easily deceived.”
— Niccolò Machiavelli
A republic requires an enlightened citizenry, but the citizenry prefers illusions, therefore the republic is always in danger. This is the tension read everywhere in the writings of Machiavelli, Harrington, Montesquieu, the Cato’s Letters authors, and even Jefferson and Adams. The founders, Cato’s letters, Montesquieu, Machiavelli, Harrington — all believed corruption is solved by structure, and not ideology. This is an important distinction. Montesquieu advised that governments decay when people stop questioning power, but myth‑making accelerates that decay, similarly as when James Harrington argued that myths about rulers hide inequality and destroy republican virtue. Myth-making thrives where knowledge dies as John Adams and Thomas Paine both thought; and Paine explained how myths become accepted truth through repetition, leading to submission to the power of the myth. Through this, those who govern conceal themselves within the opinions of the multitudes, they hide behind the errors of the people, and never directly confront the people’s myths, for the myths shield their authority and has historically been the first instrument of dominion. When the people prefer illusions, and rulers understand this, rulers can govern through myth, spectacle, and manipulation while quietly enriching themselves, entrenching power, or escaping accountability.