"Buddhism and Politics" by Ven. Dhammananda

An excellent essay that I came across a while back is Buddhism and Politics by Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera. The essay starts out:

The Buddha came from a warrior caste and was naturally brought into association with kings, princes and ministers. Despite His origin and association, He never resorted to the influence of political power to introduce His teaching, nor allowed His Teaching to be misused for gaining political power. But today, many politicians try to drag the Buddha's name into politics by introducing Him as a communist, capitalist, or even an imperialist. They have forgotten that the new political philosophy as we know it really developed in the West long after the Buddha's time. Those who try to make use of the good name of the Buddha for their own personal advantage must remember that the Buddha was the Supremely Enlightened One who had gone beyond all worldly concerns.

I have to say that I agree with almost everything he says. Other significant quotes:

When religion is used to pander to political whims, it has to forego its high moral ideals and become debased by worldly political demands.
...
No political system, no matter how ideal it may appear to be, can bring about peace and happiness as long as the people in the system are dominated by greed, hatred and delusion.

Overall this essay does a good job of denouncing the idea of using Buddhism to gain political power or support some specific political philosophy. I hope that anyone who is thinking about Buddhism and Politics will give it a read.