[nl]

He had various diplomatic and government posts prior to writing any of his books. None of them were very highly-ranked or important, though.

This is just wrong!

He was Florence's ambassador to the Vatican (the major power in Italy), then ambassador to France (the major power in Europe) and Spain.

After this he trained and led a Florentine army to victory against Pisa, and then lost to a Papal and Medici funded army and was banished from Florence.

It was at this point he wrote his book.

It's more like if Henry Kissenger had been a Marine as well.

[keiferski]

Maybe my example wasn't quite perfect, but I think Florence at the time could be compared to a city-state like New York City today. Florence certainly wasn't a superpower on the world stage, so I'm not sure Kissinger and the United States is really a better comparison. Machiavelli also made a militia and as far as I can tell, had no military service himself.

A better modern example might be a high-level office worker in the police department that was sent to other states. In either case, at some point, the comparison becomes stretched.

But yeah, you’re probably right in saying that my statement was wrong.