The Weimar system appeared to me like a father who locks his little boys in a room and stirs them up against one another and says: 'Beat each other up as much as you want.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker compares the Weimar Republic to a negligent parent who lets children fight.
- In plain terms
- They view the old government as causing chaos and fighting.
- What can you take from it?
- This uses a family metaphor to criticize a democratic system.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do metaphors shape views of government?
Another view
The metaphor simplifies complex political dynamics into a domestic scene.
More from Robert Ley
When a Russian pig has to be beaten, it would be the ordinary German worker who would have to do it.
Permalink to quote #2 We National Socialists have monopolized all resources and all our energies during the past seven years so as to be able to be equipped for the supreme effort o…
Permalink to quote #4 Stand us against a wall and shoot us, well and good, you are victors. But why should I be brought before a Tribunal like a c-c-c-... I can't even get the word …
Permalink to quote #1
Related quotes
They new the old folk wisdom: what has been built might be really crap and therefore it doesn't make any sense to dig it, for the smell could make the life rea…
Aleksandr ZinovyevAleksandr Zinovyev quote #25 The Government of the absolute majority instead of the Government of the people is but the Government of the strongest interests; and when not efficiently chec…
John C. CalhounJohn C. Calhoun quote #1 Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.
Reinhold NiebuhrReinhold Niebuhr quote #1