17-3-68
Then as now, many people felt unsettled by the uncertainties of a world in which ancient structures of authority had collapsed and no one any longer had a settled place. What Hitler offered them was an inclusive folk community that would find a position for every one of them. This was the message that combined with economic anxiety to pile up the votes the Nazis needed. Hitler told Germans they did not need listen to the endless arguments of the democratic parties, which he knew they found baffling and irritating. Instead they could look forward to consensus based on the decisions made by a leader they could trust.
It was a flimsy message, potentially raising many awkward questions. But Hitler had grasped a truth about democratic politics that is even more enthusiastically embraced now than it was then. He believed style mattered more than substance and made sure that his message was superbly marketed. Before the age of television politics was an outdoor affair, so Hitler enveloped his message in spectacle--red, white and black flags, eagle banners, bands blaring martial music, heart-warming speeches and the chanting of simple slogans. The excitement of it all was enough to quell doubts. The Germans who felt for it were not vicious or rapacious. They were simply unwilling or unable to exercise the scrutiny required by the democratic process. Today, as discussion of public affairs grows ever more cursory and infantile, the absence of such scrutiny is even more striking than it was in the 1930s. It may not have given us another Hitler yet, but it could. It is not a passing aberration in the working of democracy: it is the hole in its heart. And it is a hole we must find out how to plug, if democracy is ever to fulfill the hopes we so eagerly pin on it.
_______________________
Brian Walden is a television journalist and former member of Britain's House of Commons.

A. 어휘
Then as now 그 때도 지금처럼. unsettled 불안한, 안정되지 않는.
uncertainty 不確實性(불확실성). ancient structures of authority 옛날의 권위구조.
collapse 붕괴하다. inclusive 포괄적인, 포함하는.
inclusive folk community 소외되는 사람이 없는 주민공동체. pile up 쌓아 올리다.
Germans 독일인들. party 政黨(정당). baffling 좌절시키는, 당황하게 하는.
irritating 짜증나게 하는, 화나게 하는. look forward to 고대하다.
consensus 일치, 總意(총의). flimsy 무른, 부서지기 쉬운. potentially 잠재적으로.
awkward 난처한, 꼴사나운, 어색한. grasp 파악하다. enthusiastically 열렬하게.
embrace 받아들이다(=accept), 신봉하다, 포옹하다. matter 중요하다.
substance 본질, 實質(실질). make sure 다짐하다, 확인하다. superbly 뛰어나게.
outdoor affair 屋外(옥외)행사. envelop 포장하다. in spectacle 雄壯(웅장)하게.
flag 깃발. eagle 독수리. eagle banners [旗(기), 紋章(문장) 따위의] 독수리표 기.
blare (나팔소리) 울려 퍼지다. martial music 軍樂(군악). quell 진압하다.
vicious 惡意(악의)의. rapacious 강탈하는, 탐욕스러운. exercise 실행하다.
scrutiny 꼬치꼬치 따지기, 정밀검사. cursory 피상적인, 대강의. infantile 유치한.
striking 주목할 만한. passing 지나가는. aberration 常軌逸脫(상궤일탈).
plug 틀어막다. House of Commons 영국의회의 下院(하원).

B. 구문
-Hitler told Germans. . . they found baffling and irritating.
cf. which he knew they found baffling and irritating: knew 뒤에 접속사 that 생략.
that 이하는 knew의 목적어. which는 found의 목적어. which의 선행사는 arguments. baffling and irritating은 목적보어.
[히틀러는 독일인들에게 민주적 정당의 끊임없는 논쟁에 귀를 기우릴 필요는 없다고 말하였다. 그는 독일인들이 그러한 논쟁이 사람을 좌절시키고 짜증나게 하는 것이라고 생각하고 있는 것을 알았기 때문이다.]
-if democracy is . . . pin on it.
cf. be + to + V→의도, 가능, 미래, 운명, 의무.
[ 우리가 그(민주주의)위에 그토록 열렬히 마음을 걸고 있는 희망을 민주주의가 충족시켜 주기를 원한다면]