I have read and re-read The Prince countless times, as well as having gone through his Discourses on Livy for the second time currently. Each time I read either of these books, I find some interesting new quotes that I missed before (most recent is how he compares Fortune to a woman in chapter XXV). Practically each chapter seems to be put in practice in past and/or contemporary politics. Of course, you must disregard some context in certain areas, like chapter XIV on war tactics. But even that can be applied in different ways other than physical fighting. So, is Machiavelli the 'godfather' of present day politics, or is there another? Also, who in American politics, or otherwise, do you think acts(ed) the most Machiavellian?
Machiavelli is truly a great author and his works are monumental, but it is best to see him as part of a tradition. That being the western political/philosophical one. It is important to distinguish it as western as there are parts of the world that have different political theories.
Political philosophy has been present throughout western culture, and I do not think it fair to the other great authors to put all the emphasis for modern politics on Machiavelli. In fact, in the american sense, the strongest lineage can be traced to John Locke. These other great texts are too many to list in their entirety, but some of my favorite's are Plato's Republic, Aristotle's politcs, Hobbes' Leviathan, Locke's second treatise, the writings of Rousseau, Montesquieu, the american federalist documents, and perhaps most important of all the bible. All of these are in addition to the great texts of Machiavelli.
You may well be familiar with these texts, but if you were I do not think that you would claim Machiavelli to be the founder of all modern politics. He was important, but a piece of a whole. If you want to pm me I can send you my entire syllabus of western civ. Be warned though, there are a shit ton of books spanning three years. In short, I feel that if you read more western political texts it would let you see and appreciate Machiavelli in a new light. Not one where he is a founder, but one where he is a unique contributor. It is best to see these texts via the counter point of other thinkers, IMHO.