In contrast to the state, the people form a true organism--a
being which leads its own life and follows its own laws,
which possesses powers peculiar to itself, and which
develops its own nature independent of all state forms....
This living unity of the people has its cells in its
individual members, and just as in every body there are
certain cells to perform certain tasks, this is likewise the
case in the body of the people. The individual is bound to
his people not only physically but mentally and spiritually
and he is influenced by these ties in all his
manifestations.[17]

The elements which go to make up a people are beyond human
comprehension, but the most important of them is a uniformity of
blood, resulting in "a similarity of nature which manifests itself in
a common language and a feeling of community and is further moulded by
land and by history."[18] "The unity of the people is increased by its
common destiny and its consciousness of a common mission."[19]

Liberalism gave rise to the concept of a "society-people"
(_Gesellschaftsvolk_) which consisted of a sum of individuals, each of
whom was supposed to have an inherent significance and to play his own
independent part in the political life of the nation. National
Socialism, on the other hand, has developed, the concept of the
"community-people" (_Gemeinschaftsvolk_) which functions as a uniform
whole.[20]

The people, however, is never politically active as a whole,
but only through those who embody its will. The true will of
a people can never be determined by a majority vote. It can