Reply #5: Machiavellians will always lose...

[Sir Jeffrey]

This has been known for centuries but Machiavelli is always taught in colleges. Anti-Machiavel by Frederick the II is not taught but clearly outlines why:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Machiavel

snip

"Frederick's argument is essentially moral in nature: he asserts that Machiavelli offered a partial and biased view of statecraft. His own views appear to reflect a largely Enlightenment ideal of rational and benevolent statesmanship: the king, Frederick contends, is charged with maintaining the health and prosperity of his subjects. On the one hand, then, Machiavelli erred by assigning too great a value on princely machinations that, Frederick claims, ended in disaster, as the king's evil actions are taken up by his subjects. On the other hand, and in support of the first idea, Frederick points out the numerous cases in which Machiavelli had ignored or slighted the bad ends of the numerous malefactors he describes and praises."