The 48 Laws Of Power

284 LAW 34

Onthe

night

of

February

23,

acrowdofParisianssurroundedthe

palace.

With asuddenness that

caught everyone by surprise,

Louis-

Philippe

abdicated

that

veryevening

andfledto

England.

Heleftnosue»

cessor,

noreventhe

suggestion

ofone-—hiswhole

government

folded

up

anddissolvedlikea

traveling

circus

leaving

town.

Interpretation

Louis-Philippeconsciously

dissolvedthe aurathat

natu.rallypertains

to

kings

andleaders.

Scoffing

atthe

symbolism

of

grandeur,

hebelieveda

newworldwas

dawning,

whererulersshouldactand belike

ordinary

citi

zens.Hewas

right:

Anew

world,

without

kings

and

queens,

was

certainly

onits

way.

Hewas

profoundlywrong,

however,

in

predicting

a

change

in

the

dynamics

of

power.

The

bourgeoisking’s

hatandumbrellaamusedtheFrenchat

first,

but

soon

grewirritating.People

knewthat

Louis-Philippe

wasnot

really

like

thematall—thatthehatandumbrellawere

essentially

akindoftricktoen-

courage

theminthe

fantasy

thatthe

country

had

suddenlygrown

more

equal.Actually,though,

the

divisionsofwealthhadneverbeen

greater.

TheFrench

expected

theirrulertobeabitofa

showman,

tohavesome

presence.

Evenaradicallike

Robespierre,

whohad

briefly

cometo

power

during

theFrenchRevolution

fiftyyears

earlier,

hadunderstood

this,

and

cenainlyNapoleon,

whohadturnedthe

revolutionaryrepublic

into

anim

per-ialregime,

hadknown

itin

hisbones.Indeed

as

soonas

Louis—Phi1ippe

fled the

stage,

the French revealed their true desire:

They

elected

Napoleon’sgrand-nephewpresident.

Hewasavirtual

unknown,

but

they

hoped

hewouldrecreatethe

greatgeneral’spowerful

aura,

erasing

the

awkward

memory

ofthe

“bourgeoisking.”

Powerful

peoplemay

be

tempted

toaffect

a

common-man

aura,

trying

tocreatetheillusionthat

they

andtheir

subjects

or

underlings

are

basically

thesame.Butthe

people

whomthisfalse

gesture

isintendedto

impress

will

quickly

see

through

it.

They

understandthat

they

arenot

beinggiven

more

power——that

it

onlyappears

asif

they

sharedinthe

powerfulperson’s

fate.

The

only

kindof

commontouch

that

worksisthekindailected

by

Franklin

Roosevelt,

a

style

thatsaidthe

president

sharedvaluesand

goals

withthe

common

people

evenwhileheremaineda

patrician

atheart.Henever

pretended

toerasehisdistancefromthecrowd.

Leaderswho

try

todissolvethatdistance

through

afalse

chumrniness

gradually

lose

the

ability

to

inspireloyalty,

fear,

orlove.Instead

they

elicit

contempt.

Like

Louis—Philippe,they

aretoo

uninspiring

eventobeworth

the

guillotine-——the

best

they

candois

simply

vanishinthe

night,

asif

they

wereneverthere.

OBSERVANCEOFTHELAW

When

Christopher

Columbuswas

trying

tofind

funding

forhis

legendary

voyages,many

aroundhimbelievedhecamefromtheItalian

aristocracy.

Thisviewwas

passed

into

historythrough

a

biography

writtenaftertheex-

plorer’s

death

by

his

son,

whichdescribeshimasa

descendant

ofa

Count