A Hardball Leadership Essay Example for Free

A Hardball Leadership Essay Politics is a battlefield for power. Throughout history, politics play an important role in shaping leaders and forming powerful states. Wars are even conducted to be able to get the advantage of politics. However nowadays, to get ahead into politics warfare is not necessary; it all depends on how an individual handles it. It is more than just the leadership skills, the charisma and the motivation to serve. It is the usage of the smartest strategies to get acquainted with the ‘who’ and to get the ‘what’. â€Å"The end justifies the means. Machiavelli famously imprinted these words in the world of politics. For Machiavelli, politics is more than just a career, it is an art that should be mastered and should be maintained. For Chris Matthews, politics is a game that should be learned by playing according to a set of rules. Both authors have goals in mind: to be on top of the power. Their works serve as guidelines on handling politics. Machiavelli and Matthews provide strategies on how to be an influential and effective political figure. These rules were patterned in the context of their current society. Though Machiavelli’s attack on The Prince is more aggressive than Matthews, this is mainly because of the political turmoil that has occurred during his time. Matthews on the other hand, wrote practical approaches that can be applied not just in government but as well as in business, job promotion or other aspects of life. This is to convey that politics is everywhere. Nonetheless, despite the differences between Matthews and Machiavelli, their works are cohesively direct to the path of power. To be the best player in the field of politics, one must maximize everything – including flaws and opponents – to his or her advantage. While Machiavelli focused more on state affairs, Matthews applied strategies not just to politics but to general ways of life. Like Machiavelli, Matthews related in his book on how to rise to power and maintaining it the moment it is achieved. The spread of influence and the utilization of wits will be able to bring someone to the top. Matthews enumerated his practical strategies that people within the Washington circle used. The ability to appear powerful is one of the tactics which Machiavelli has also cited. The embodiment of power is important to acquire power itself. From the famous saying of ‘what the mind conceive the body will achieve,’ people and competitors will believe a person portraying as a powerful individual. It creates a strong impression. To convince others that one has a power; it should reflect the outer attributes and incorporate the attitudes of a powerful entity. The Politician will have to utilize everything to be able to reach the top and at the top, his resources should be exhausted even more to maintain his or her stature. The Prince has the same aim. Machiavelli described most of his tactics with the likes of being a fox and to be a lion at the same time. On the other hand, Matthews associated it with a term of aggressive sports. In the field of sports, an athlete needs to play hard and it is necessary to lay out the strategies to be able to win the game. The aspects of deception and manipulation clearly reflect a Machiavellian theme situated in the White House. The politician works closely with the enemies rather than shunning them away. It gives the politician an opportunity to watch the actions of the enemy directly. Their capabilities can be used in favor of the politician’s gain. Both authors have stated the importance of alliances to strengthen influence and gain trust. Machiavelli stressed the importance of taking sides rather than going neutral. Win or lose, the Prince still has allies to aid him when crisis comes. Matthews mentioned having alliances to gain loyal supporters. He was able to portray in Washington, that people who actually do favors for the politician become great allies. The work of Chris Matthews is often compared with Machiavelli. Both of them preached the same aim of acquiring power, though their subjects are different. It can be viewed that Machiavelli’s The Prince is solely based on an individualistic approach since he focused on monarchies as a source of power. On the contrary, Matthews’ approach is more inter-personal. By the title of his book Hardball: How Politics Is Played Told By One Who Knows The Game, it gives the impression of sports which is composed of individuals and teams. To be on top means to be the captain of the game. Hardball can be a useful reference for people who want to get ahead with life. As mentioned earlier, Matthews’ approach is not as aggressive as Machiavelli. This can be applied in other aspects of life because as what Matthews mentioned in his introduction, â€Å"there are enduring human truths in the rules that politicians play by† (Matthews 17). Matthews depicts politics as an exciting and thrilling environment where the most amusing personalities are passionately involved. Machiavelli, on the other hand, gave a cruel and ruthless picture. Since politics is compared with sports, the major player from Matthews’ book is a prominent figure in world politics. The United States is one of the most influential countries, economic-wise and political wise. As a state, the U. S. is good at keeping their alliances. The long years of friendship with other countries (i. e. Great Britain) contributed to numerous gains which helped the US to be a super power in the international community. Behind its status is the most powerful political figure in the United States. For the upcoming 2008 US Presidential election, it is notable to mention a candidate that created a name for him as the first colored American to be nominated for presidency. Barack Obama can be a perfect example of a major player in Matthews’ political field. Being raised in a multi-racial background, this became an asset for him to reach different minorities in the country. This particular asset of Obama became one of his forefronts of his campaign which focused on thriving for change. Modern United States is a diverse country made up of various racial origins and Obama thought that his colored skin can be an advantage. Obama revealed in his memoir Dreams from my Father about his previous lifestyle of smoking and drinking. Relating this particular detail of his life, it can be seen as a target for his opponent to dwell on. However, this can also be viewed as a method derived from Matthews’ book. Before the other party can even use it against him, he does the broadcasting himself. Admitting one’s flaw can lessen the negative impact of it, and the rivals will have to search for a new attack to use against the politician. Citing this example, it is seen how Chris Matthews’ strategies are put to use. This kind of political play inside the White House reflects how the United States moves in the arena of world politics. Taking that into account, Chris Matthews gives the readers a clear picture of the inner workings of America’s political center. Washington is portrayed as the battlefield, wherein politics is the game, and the athletes are the politicians who play hardball.

Expansionist Tension :: American America History

Expansionist Tension From 1800 to 1850 territorial expansion tore the United States apart. Territorial expansion itself was not a debated issue. Spurred by the concept of Manifest Destiny, almost everyone believed that America should extend from sea to shining sea and maybe even farther. But it was the issue of the expansion of slavery into the new territories that pitted the North against the South and split our nation apart. The first real crisis over territorial expansion took place in 1819-1821 over the admission of the state of Missouri. The proposed state of Missouri was the first (beside Louisiana itself) to be carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. It lay out of the jurisdiction of the Northwest Ordinance, which prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territories, and had a long tradition of slavery. Therefore, in 1817 Missouri applied to the Union as a slave state. The extension of slavery so far north and the threat of further expansion of slavery into all new territories of the U.S. created havoc in Congress. In February 1819, Congressman James Tallmadge, from New York, proposed an amendment that would prohibit any new slaves to enter the state and provided that all slave children born after the date of admission would be set free at the age of twenty-five. Tallmadge's gradual emancipation proviso received almost unanimous opposition from Southern Congressmen. The amendment twice passed the North dom inated House of Representatives, only to be turned down by the balanced Senate. In December 1819, Maine applied for statehood as a free state. In the end a compromise was reached where Maine would enter the Union as a free state, Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state without restrictions, but in the remaining Louisiana territory slavery would be prohibited north of 36o30' (the Mason-Dixon Line). This is now known as the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise is commonly thought of the beginning of American Sectionalism, although signs were visible long before 1819. The Missouri controversy alerted the South to the need for political unity in order to maintain the "peculiar institution" of slavery and alerted the whole country to the political problems inherent to westward expansion. The next jolt to national unity was over the admission of Texas into the Union. Texas had petitioned for admission as early as 1836, and the ensuing arguments in Congress over upsetting the balance between free and slave states delayed its admission into the Union. Expansionist Tension :: American America History Expansionist Tension From 1800 to 1850 territorial expansion tore the United States apart. Territorial expansion itself was not a debated issue. Spurred by the concept of Manifest Destiny, almost everyone believed that America should extend from sea to shining sea and maybe even farther. But it was the issue of the expansion of slavery into the new territories that pitted the North against the South and split our nation apart. The first real crisis over territorial expansion took place in 1819-1821 over the admission of the state of Missouri. The proposed state of Missouri was the first (beside Louisiana itself) to be carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. It lay out of the jurisdiction of the Northwest Ordinance, which prohibited slavery in the Northwest Territories, and had a long tradition of slavery. Therefore, in 1817 Missouri applied to the Union as a slave state. The extension of slavery so far north and the threat of further expansion of slavery into all new territories of the U.S. created havoc in Congress. In February 1819, Congressman James Tallmadge, from New York, proposed an amendment that would prohibit any new slaves to enter the state and provided that all slave children born after the date of admission would be set free at the age of twenty-five. Tallmadge's gradual emancipation proviso received almost unanimous opposition from Southern Congressmen. The amendment twice passed the North dom inated House of Representatives, only to be turned down by the balanced Senate. In December 1819, Maine applied for statehood as a free state. In the end a compromise was reached where Maine would enter the Union as a free state, Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state without restrictions, but in the remaining Louisiana territory slavery would be prohibited north of 36o30' (the Mason-Dixon Line). This is now known as the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise is commonly thought of the beginning of American Sectionalism, although signs were visible long before 1819. The Missouri controversy alerted the South to the need for political unity in order to maintain the "peculiar institution" of slavery and alerted the whole country to the political problems inherent to westward expansion. The next jolt to national unity was over the admission of Texas into the Union. Texas had petitioned for admission as early as 1836, and the ensuing arguments in Congress over upsetting the balance between free and slave states delayed its admission into the Union.

Case: Patients like me Essay

Patients like me(PLM) is a social network which covers different diseases. Members get access to a large database of information about other people who has the same illness as them selves. They also have access to forums, which lets them communicate with other patients as well. This enables patients to get information about their disease and gain new insight, the possibility to ask for practical advice, which doctors do not know about. Other reasons for becoming a member can be to contribute to research about their disease, to help other people with the same medical problems, sharing experiences and having someone to relate to and who knows what they are going through. The site thus covers human needs for both information and emotional support when handeling complex problems in pressing situations. Does the platform work for any diseases? In the short term the platform is most useful on diseases that have a lot of daily practical aspects to it. This is because this is where other patients can best contributing with advice. In the longer term medical companies can use the information to research new drugs. 2. What are the reactions of physicians to sites like PLM? Do you agree with them? Reactions for physicians are mainly issues of misinformation and for what purpose the information is used. When it comes to misinformation this is related to people self reporting on their illness and people without a medical degree voicing their unqualified opinion about drugs, other peoples symptoms ect. The statements on these pages can have consequences that unqualified person did not intend. When it comes to misinformation I have agree with the physicians. There are limitations to the data posted by the unqualified members of sites like PLM. On the other hand I am also of the opinion that even though the information is self-reported, it can be a valuable lead and provide information that is good enough for a particular use. This large amount of self reported information could also be a way to gain new insights that were previously unknown. 3. Should PLM launch the General Platform? If yes, how does it ensure that it is as successful in engaging patients as its current platform? If no, how does PLM grow? From a business standpoint, PLM should launch the General Platform. This creates a business opportunity to start the first communities for a lot of different illnesses that does not yet have a social network. The first mover advantage is very significant in social media and should be taken advantage of. There are a number of factors that make up a digital social network with engaged users. One of them is functionality and ease of use. This is very important so that the user experience is as enjoyable as possible and thereby barriers to usage are as low. Secondly, the content that is on the site needs to be of use for the members using it. This means that there should be some sort of moderation on the site. This is important since bad/abusive/misinforming users tend to crowd out the good/contributing users. If abusive users are allowed to still be active on the site can make potential members shy away from the site. This will seriously damage the PLM brand and profitability in the long run. By being aware of this and having prepared systems to handle this kind of problem the risk of this happening is limited. 4. So far, PLM has generated revenues by providing market research to pharmaceutical companies. Should it expand its business model to insurance companies and research institutions? Does it have the potential of becoming the â€Å"Bloomberg of medical data’? PLM has opened a large amount of data about different patients that would otherwise not be avaliable to third party institutions. This makes it possible for them to become a †Bloomberg of medical data†. It is without doubt that this can be a large business opportunity for PLM and the firms in need of medical information. If insurance companies could get better insight into how the populations health is, they could write more precise policies which better descibes the risk that patients are exposed to. If the risk is overstated, this means more expensive insurrance. This can lead to a loss of marketshare for the insurrance company and higher prices for consumers. Research institutions can get access to data that they might not have been able to get or would have cost a lot of money to gather. This would be a win-win situation for both PLM, the research institutions, insurance companies and patients.

Human Cloning Is A Good Tool Essay - 1169 Words

Linda Ding Dr. Beatty English II 5th period November 15, 2016 Human cloning â€Å" Of one is seriously interested in preventing reproductive cloning, one must stop the process before it starts†( Kass). When I was a little girl, I watched a movie, which was about the world that had another â€Å"me†. I cannot imagine what will happen if there is another â€Å" me† in the world, life will be out of control! There is another girl likes everything I like, she is the most familiar person for me in the world, she is also a stranger. Since there was the first cloned animal, Dolly, in the world, people began to think about the possibility to clone people. There are two different part of people: some of them think that human cloning is a good technique to improve people s lives and it is also a good new step for people to research a new area; the other part of people support that human cloning is dangerous and not ethic, human cloning is not an area that people should search. Human cloning is a dangerous technique, it opposes God s faith, it can cause social disorder and it is not a proven technique. In the world, we cannot decide what is absolute wrong or what is absolute right, but in religion, we can. God can help us to decide what is the truth. God s doctrine is the only truth in the world. After there are cloned animals in the world, people began to think about human cloning. Some people support human cloning because there are already animal cloning, they think that if there is animalShow MoreRelatedEssay about Cloning - The Great Human Embryo Clone Hype1638 Words   |  7 PagesThe Great Human Embryo Clone Hype      Ã‚  Ã‚   Abstract: The cloning of human embryos has sparked a major debate worldwide. New cloning methods have surpassed the technology that could only duplicate specified genes or produce offspring from frozen mice and human embryos. Cloning has been used to free would-be sufferers from a particular disease carrying gene. Likewise, out of desire to assist infertile couples and overcome the drawbacks of using in-vitro fertilization, came the newest method of cloningRead MoreThe Human Of Human Cloning1100 Words   |  5 PagesHuman Cloning 1. INTRODUCTION Human  cloning  is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. However, this term not only refers to the entire artificial human, but also the reproduction of human cells and tissues. There are two types of theoretical human cloning: reproductive cloning which would involve making an entire cloned human and the other, therapeutic cloning, which would involve cloning cells from a human for use in medicine and transplants by somatic-cell nuclear transfer orRead MoreThe Ethical Implications Of Human Cloning1305 Words   |  6 Pagesbe duplicated. Cloning sheep and other nonhuman animals seemed more ethically benign to some than potentially cloning people. In response to such concerns in the United States, President Clinton signed a five-year moratorium on federal funding for human cloning the same year of Dolly s arrival [source: Lamb]. Human cloning has become one of the most debated topics among people in the world regarding the ethical implications. In past polls b y TIME magazine (The Ethics of Cloning, 1998), it was shownRead MoreThe Human Of Human Cloning1098 Words   |  5 Pages1. INTRODUCTION Human  cloning  is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a human. However, this term not only refers to the entire artificial human, but also the reproduction of human cells and tissues. 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The final object was named Dolly, born on July 5, 1996 she was the first clone to be produced from a mammal cellRead MoreA Brave New World by Aldous Huxley664 Words   |  3 PagesThe History during 1931 and how much things changed during the period over time, 83 years ago. How humans are getting cloned for having diseases, how women were having sex with so many men without them being known as tramps, how people walk the earth with no regrets but now people live and regret. In 1931, people was getting cloned for having diseases, but as time changed its illegal now diseases can be cured. But for the fact being in the future and in the past time has changed and many differencesRead MoreHuman Cloning Debate: The Fate of Frankenstein1671 Words   |  7 PagesFrankenstein myth is the idea that humans have the technology and wisdom to create or duplicate life. 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