“A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.”
“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.”
H.L. Mencken
Administrator
Author
November 2, 2014 3:31 pm
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
H.L. Mencken
Administrator
Author
November 2, 2014 3:32 pm
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy
Administrator
Author
November 2, 2014 3:34 pm
“All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: its one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him. If it be aristocratic in organization, then it seeks to protect the man who is superior only in law against the man who is superior in fact; if it be democratic, then it seeks to protect the man who is inferior in every way against both. One of its primary functions is to regiment men by force, to make them as much alike as possible and as dependent upon one another as possible, to search out and combat originality among them. All it can see in an original idea is potential change, and hence an invasion of its prerogatives. The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are.”
H.L. Mencken
Administrator
Author
November 2, 2014 3:35 pm
“Civilization, in fact, grows more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. Wars are no longer waged by the will of superior men, capable of judging dispassionately and intelligently the causes behind them and the effects flowing out of them. The are now begun by first throwing a mob into a panic; they are ended only when it has spent its ferine fury.”
H.L. Mencken, In Defense Of Women
ss
November 2, 2014 4:57 pm
Mencken has many great comments. I also like many of Adam Smith’s. One of the most well known –
“This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.” – Adam Smith
The most frustrating (and dangerous) thing that is dragging our country down are citizens who desire to be dependent on government instead of doing whatever is necessary to make it work for them to have enough opportunity to prosper by finding decent jobs according to their education and ability.
Parents are largely responsible for instilling in their kids a desire to learn, be curious, work hard, and be informed to help them succeed. But most parents are failing because many of them don’t seem to look upon financial dependence on government as something to be avoided as much as possible. Once many face financial hardship and desperation, and government comes to their rescue with monthly checks to assist them, most become intensely loyal to their political representatives and parties no matter how corrupt our entire political system becomes.
Blind loyalty that completely ignores the destruction of a entire group of people (the middle class), only guarantees economic catastrophe.
Jackson
November 2, 2014 6:42 pm
Hey, didn’t H.L. Mencken die 50 or 60 years ago?
How could he have known and described so well most of our current American politicians and most all of today’s voters?
Of course Mencken’s comments don’t apply to me, TBP readers, and the national, state, and local candidates I support and vote for. Just by chance, and thank God, we and they seem to be exceptions to Mencken’s general rules.
“A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.”
“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.”
H.L. Mencken
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
H.L. Mencken
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
H.L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy
“All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: its one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him. If it be aristocratic in organization, then it seeks to protect the man who is superior only in law against the man who is superior in fact; if it be democratic, then it seeks to protect the man who is inferior in every way against both. One of its primary functions is to regiment men by force, to make them as much alike as possible and as dependent upon one another as possible, to search out and combat originality among them. All it can see in an original idea is potential change, and hence an invasion of its prerogatives. The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And even if he is not romantic personally he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are.”
H.L. Mencken
“Civilization, in fact, grows more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. Wars are no longer waged by the will of superior men, capable of judging dispassionately and intelligently the causes behind them and the effects flowing out of them. The are now begun by first throwing a mob into a panic; they are ended only when it has spent its ferine fury.”
H.L. Mencken, In Defense Of Women
Mencken has many great comments. I also like many of Adam Smith’s. One of the most well known –
“This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and the powerful, and to despise, or, at least, to neglect persons of poor and mean condition, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral sentiments.” – Adam Smith
The most frustrating (and dangerous) thing that is dragging our country down are citizens who desire to be dependent on government instead of doing whatever is necessary to make it work for them to have enough opportunity to prosper by finding decent jobs according to their education and ability.
Parents are largely responsible for instilling in their kids a desire to learn, be curious, work hard, and be informed to help them succeed. But most parents are failing because many of them don’t seem to look upon financial dependence on government as something to be avoided as much as possible. Once many face financial hardship and desperation, and government comes to their rescue with monthly checks to assist them, most become intensely loyal to their political representatives and parties no matter how corrupt our entire political system becomes.
Blind loyalty that completely ignores the destruction of a entire group of people (the middle class), only guarantees economic catastrophe.
Hey, didn’t H.L. Mencken die 50 or 60 years ago?
How could he have known and described so well most of our current American politicians and most all of today’s voters?
Of course Mencken’s comments don’t apply to me, TBP readers, and the national, state, and local candidates I support and vote for. Just by chance, and thank God, we and they seem to be exceptions to Mencken’s general rules.