Mein Kampf
far as to twaddle about a very particular duty, to wit journalistic “honor,” which the assembled rabble then gravely confirm in one another.
This rabble manufactures more than two-thirds of all so-called “public opinion,” from whose foam the parliamentary Aphrodite rises.
To describe this process rightly and to show its whole falsehood and mendacity would take volumes. But putting all this aside, if we look only at the product and its effect I think this will be enough to show the objective madness of the institution, even to the most devout of souls.
We can soonest and most easily understand this senseless and dangerous aberration by comparing democratic parliamentarism with a truly Germanic democracy.
The peculiarity of the former is that a body of, let us say, five hundred men, or recently even women, is chosen, whose duty it is to make a final decision in every kind of issue. Practically, they alone are the government; for though they may choose a cabinet which outwardly undertakes to manage affairs of state, this is only for show. In reality the so-called government can take no step without first getting the permission of the general assembly. Consequently it can be made responsible for nothing, since the final decision never rests with the government, but with the majority of Parliament. In any case the government merely carries out the will of the majority. Its political capacity can be really judged only by its skill in either fitting itself to the will of the majority or pulling the majority over to its side. This degrades it from the level of a real government to that of a beggar at the feet of the momentary majority. From occasion to occasion its most urgent task is to assure itself of the favor of the existing majority, or to undertake the formation of a more amenable new one. If it succeeds, it can go on “governing” for a little while; if it does not succeed, it must quit. The intrinsic rightness of its intentions is no consideration.
This practically cuts out all responsibility.
A very little consideration will show what this results in. The
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