Keep in mind the date: this was written in 1941 and yet pre-sages much of "authoritarian personality" of Fromm et al, evolutionary psychology (e.g., seeing the

Keep in mind the date: this was written in 1941 and yet pre-sages much of "authoritarian personality" of Fromm et al, evolutionary psychology (e.g., seeing the all-powerful state/demagogue as an ersatz romantic partner), the idea of "self-esteem", and Public Choice economics (e.g., Mr. L). That makes the article all the more brilliant and interesting to read, as it demonstrates that many of the above theories are not after-the-fact constructions, massaged, to fit the data. Some interesting asides, though: 1) re: "United States of Europe" (turns it, that would actually happen!) wasn't just the dream of idealistic liberal youths of that time; it was also quite popular with many Nazis (see Speer's memoirs) and Vichyists. 2) There's also one character -- the brilliant intellectual experimenting with every intellectual idea and mixing in his own. He would seem at home in Mussolini's Italy/Petain's France. In many ways, he seems to resemble Vilfredo Paretto. I'd wager 'L' and he are the most dangerous archetypes: while Nazis would certainly "purge" both in the end, they would be instrumental in their rise to power, and would seem like the biggest "surprises" to many. Personal note: the German emigre archetype is really interesting; I'm a former-USSR Jewish emigre to the US, now a naturalized citizen -- yet I "knew" in a sense, that the US fit my temperament and psyche long before walking off the plane and through customs. Free Utopia/Dystopia novel idea: a union of polities where each individual is free to take a specially crafted a personality test and then is allowed (by choice) to emigrate (free of any charge/transaction costs fully covered, etc...) to another polity that matched their personality (in addition to other routes of of immigration -- legal, but not unconditional or cost-free -- to avoid breeding a pure monoculture.)