The reaction to what Karl Marx called “parliamentary cretinism” is the rise of movements that seek, instead, a decisive leader – someone to tell people what to do. Such leaders soon learn that their solutions are no better than anybody else’s and decide that the best way to remain in power is by blaming all problems on foreigners.
对于这么一个经济衰退停滞时期的政策后果，我们有一个20世纪早期的例子。当时对卡尔·马克思（Karl Marx）所谓“议会痴呆症（parliamentary cretinism）”的反应就是人们不断发起运动试图寻找一个决策领导人——也就是告诉人们该怎么做的人。但这些领导人很快认识到他们的解决方案并不比其他人的更优秀，而把权力握在手里的最佳方式就是把所有问题都赖在别国人头上。于是他们对“民族”大加颂扬并将政策聚焦于与其它国家的零和争端之上，同时找那些国内的邪恶“异己”作为替罪羊。