TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20260, 31 July 1937, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Democracy and Nationalism. Nationalism as wo know it to-day is a by-product of the democratic movement, writes the Archbishop of York, Dr. Temple, in his book, “ Christian Democracy.” Dr. Temple continues: —It is quite true that some nations have lately dispensed with democratic methods, but they have not reverted to the systems of the eighteenth and earlier centuries. Louis XIV. led his people, but he did not derive his title from their support. Hitler and Mussolini are in many ways more despotic; but they are also more dependent on popular favour. It is, in part at least, this new sense of responsibility in the masses of the people, coupled with the complexity of modern problems, which constitutes the temptation to despair of reason and to follow blindly a chosen leader —chosen because of an immediate sense of affinity between him and the people, not because his policy is deliberately approved by the people. For when Italians follow Mussolini or Germans follow Hitler, they have no sense of abdicating their responsibility; rather, this diseipleship is felt to be the exercise of that responsibility. Now it is quite possible for men to embrace a faith uncritically yet in a complete idealistic spirit. The aspect of Fascism or National Socialism which appeals to high-spirited youth is its demand for self-sacrifice on behalf of their country. They have a purpose in life, and they know that it is not a selfish purpose. It can be fulfilled only by self-abnegation. Yet in this appeal there is a subtly pernicious element. For although it is a call to selfsacrifice and the conscious mind has nothing else before its attention, it is also a call to serve what for each patriot is his own country in distinction from others.