Lies being taught;
Hitler had no knowledge of politics.
Now the Truth;
CHAPTER III
POLITICAL REFLECTIONS ARISING OUT OF
MY SOJOURN IN VIENNA.
"Generally
speaking a man should not publicly take part in politics before he has reached
the age of thirty, though, of course, exceptions must be made in the case of
those who are naturally gifted with extraordinary political abilities. That at
least is my opinion to-day. And the reason for it is that until he reaches his
thirtieth year or thereabouts a man's mental development will mostly consist in
acquiring and sifting such knowledge as is necessary for the groundwork of a general
platform from which he can examine the different political problems that arise
from day to day and be able to adopt a definite attitude towards each. A man
must first acquire a fund of general ideas and fit them together so as to form
an organic structure of personal thought or outlook on life--a WELTANSCHAUUNG.
Then he will have that mental equipment without which he cannot form his own
judgments on particular questions of the day, and he will have acquired those qualities
that are necessary for consistency and steadfastness in the formation of
political opinions. Such a man is now qualified, at least subjectively, to take
his part in the political conduct of public affairs.
If
these pre-requisite conditions are not fulfilled, and if a man should enter
political life without this equipment, he will run a twofold risk. In the first
place, he may find during the course of events that the stand which he
originally took in regard to some essential question was wrong. He will now
have to abandon his former position or else stick to it against his better
knowledge and riper wisdom and after his reason and convictions have already
proved it untenable. If he adopt the former line of action he will find himself
in a difficult personal situation; because in giving up a position hitherto
maintained he will appear inconsistent and will have no right to expect his
followers to remain as loyal to his leadership as they were before. And, as
regards the followers themselves, they may easily look upon their leader's change
of policy as showing a lack of judgment inherent in his character. Moreover,
the change must cause in them a certain feeling of discomfiture VIS-À-VIS those
whom the leader formerly opposed.
If
he adopts the second alternative--which so very frequently happens to-day--then
public pronouncements of the leader have no longer his personal persuasion to
support them. And the more that is the case the defence of his cause will be
all the more hollow and superficial. He now descends to the adoption of vulgar
means in his defence. While he himself no longer dreams seriously of standing
by his political protestations to the last--for no man will die in defence of
something in which he does not believe--he makes increasing demands on his followers.
Indeed, the greater be the measure of his own insincerity, the more unfortunate
and inconsiderate become his claims on his party adherents. Finally, he throws
aside the last vestiges of true leadership and begins to play politics. This
means that he becomes one of those whose only consistency is their
inconsistency, associated with
Overbearing
insolence and oftentimes an artful mendacity developed to a shamelessly high
degree.
Should
such a person, to the misfortune of all decent people, succeed in becoming a
parliamentary deputy it will be clear from the outset that for him the essence
of political activity consists in a heroic struggle to keep permanent hold on
this milk-bottle as a source of livelihood for himself and his family. The more
his wife and children are dependent on him, the more stubbornly will he fight
to maintain for himself the representation of his parliamentary constituency.
For that reason any other person who gives evidence of political capacity is
his personal enemy. In every new movement he will apprehend the possible
beginning of his own downfall. And everyone who is a better man than himself
will appear to him in the light of a menace."
Adolf Hitler
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