Proximity to a skilled boss transmits political craft invisibly

Evidence

De Sanctis participated in a creative moment of Italian political history, a moment in which the effectiveness of the political will—turned to awakening new and original forces rather than merely to calculating on the traditional ones, which were seen as incapable of being developed and reorganised (Guicciardinesque political scepticism)— had revealed all its potentiality not only in the art of founding a State from within, but also in that of mastering international relations, rejuvenating the professional and customary methods of diplomacy (with Cavour). The cultural atmosphere was propitious to a more comprehensively realistic conception of the science and art of politics. But, supposing there had not been this atmosphere, would it have been impossible for De Sanctis to understand Machiavelli? The atmosphere provided by the historical moment enriches De Sanctis’ essays with a sentimental pathos which renders the argument more sympathetic and moving, the scientific exposition more artistically expressive and captivating; but the logical, political-scientific content could have been thought out even in periods of blackest reaction. Is not reaction too perhaps a constructive act of will? And is not conservation a deliberate act? Why then should Machiavelli’s will be “Utopian”, and why revolutionary and not Utopian the will of someone who wants to conserve what exists, and to prevent the creation and organisation of new forces which would disturb and transform the traditional equilibrium? — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 734 (#expands, via linked claim)

Ultimately, he had learned through his experience with John Purroy Mitchel, it all came down to a question of power. An idea was no good without power behind it, power to make people adopt it, power to reward them when they did, power to crush them when they didn’t. If he still had no position and no power of his own, if his only power was the confidence of one man, still, in Al Smith’s Albany, when that one man was Al Smith, that was a not inconsiderable amount of power. “Executive support,” he had learned, was the essential that one could not do without if one did not have power of one’s own. Now he had that support. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 614 (#qualifies-own, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Executive confidence alone is power enough to move ideas into law — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the…, 614; Being present at a creative political moment sharpens one’s grasp of political will. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 734; A political mentor can convert an uncompromising idealist into a pragmatic operative

Related

• Being present at a creative political moment sharpens one’s grasp of political will. (similarity 0.84)

Broader Connections

• Being present at a creative political moment sharpens one’s grasp of political will. #expands (0.75) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 734