I fear for my life. Also, thank you.
Good, then all is going swimmingly.
"Since love & fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved."
Ahh... Machiavelli!
Personally though, I find that his logic is fundamentally flawed. A ruler CAN be both loved, AND feared at the same time. Take for instance, the late Kim Jong Il. "Fearless Leader" had a genuine cult of personality, in addition to his vicious secret police.
If placed in that rather uncomfortable hotseat, I would be forced to crack down on corruption, including my own. Viciously. For this, I would be all at once, Loved, Hated, and Feared.
(Loved, by the common populace, since I would greatly reform taxation, Greatly reform government spending, Greatly reform military budgets and contracts, copyrights, patents, etc. Hated, because I would be cutting pet projects, Would be enforcing punctuality on contracts, Eliminating pork and earmarks, and stringently investigating members of government with a rectally inserted microscope. Feared, because I would be ruthless, and not-buy-able. No amount of money or comfort is worth compromising my principles. In this respect, I would be an honest tyrant, as amusing as that sounds.)
As duke of the mountain home? I would promise never to make mandates for unsatisfiable constructions. (No crystal glass beds!) Further, I would impose a local law against any noble creating an unsatisfiable mandate, citing that such an act is unconscionable, and innately vindictive in nature. The punishment for issuing a provably unsatisfiable mandate would be for the NOBLE to receive the punishment assigned to the person blamed for the failure to satisfy the mandate. Although repeatedly getting hammered in the face probably wouldn't break dwarven nobles of their bad habits.
Further, for goods that are clearly the primary export tradestuff, absolutely under no condition is the export of such a product to be forbidden, for any reason. I dont care how much Urist McMayor likes his scepters.
(and unlike other politicians, I would actually make good on those promises. I would DELIGHT in seeing Urist McMayor get hammered for abusing his authority. In all other matters, I would be predominantly hands-Off.)