H.L. Mencken
Posted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 5:29 pm
H.L.
>Mencken writing in the Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920:
>
> > "...when a candidate for public office faces the
> > voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob
> > of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact
> > that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or
> > even of comprehending any save the most
> > elemental-men whose whole thinking is done in terms
> > of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of
> > what they cannot understand. So confronted, the
> > candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost.
> >
> >
> > All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically,
> > the most devious and mediocre-the man who can most
> > adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a
> > virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year,
> > to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the
> > office represents, more and more closely, the inner
> > soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. 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.
>Mencken writing in the Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920:
>
> > "...when a candidate for public office faces the
> > voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob
> > of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact
> > that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas, or
> > even of comprehending any save the most
> > elemental-men whose whole thinking is done in terms
> > of emotion, and whose dominant emotion is dread of
> > what they cannot understand. So confronted, the
> > candidate must either bark with the pack or be lost.
> >
> >
> > All the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically,
> > the most devious and mediocre-the man who can most
> > adeptly disperse the notion that his mind is a
> > virtual vacuum. The Presidency tends, year by year,
> > to go to such men. As democracy is perfected, the
> > office represents, more and more closely, the inner
> > soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. 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.