Monday Ménage

Rene Descartes. Michael Curtis. William Carr.

Good sense is the most equitably distributed thing in the world, for each man considers himself so well provided with it that even those who are most difficult to satisfy in everything else do not usually wish to have more of it than they already have. Rene Descartes.

Speculation on politics can take a variety of forms, from the preoccupation with the operational and manipulative aspects of public affairs to the creation of philosophic systems. Inquiry of the first type – on the correct number of members of a cabinet, the most desirable size and form of electoral area, the manner in which the legislative process should operate – is associated with the world of practical political activity and with journalistic commentary on it. The latter type, concerned with the nature of man, social relationships and political institutions, is normally elaborated in political treatises. Who loses, and who wins: who’s in, who’s out! Michael Curtis.

One of Hitler’s least endearing characteristics was a readiness to blame others for his personal misfortunes. It did not take him long to reach the conclusion that dependence on the broad Völkisch movement and not his own miscalculations had been the cause of the debacle. The lesson was plain: he must create a new party strong enough to carry through the National Revolution’ unaided. And this carried with it the implication that if Nazis ever came to power on their own, their leader would ipso facto become ruler of Germany. In short, the roles of Trommler and Führer were beginning to converge. William Carr.