[Peace-discuss] H.L. Mencken

[C. G. Estabrook]

It's more comforting to think that Bush is a moron -- he isn't -- than to admit 
that we are responsible for the crimes of the American government.  Elite 
interests, contrary to those of most of us, are "most peculiarly attended to" 
(Adam Smith's phrase), and we remain quiet, behind a false front of democratic 
forms without substance.

Mencken's contempt for the idea of democracy (and perhaps his admiration for the 
"first-rate man" with the "force of his personality" -- what was elsewhere 
called "the leadership principle") was bound up with his admiration for German 
society, in both its imperial and national socialist forms.

Mencken seems to occupy the position of the famous Pharisee of Luke 18.  --CGE


John W. wrote:
> 
> In searching for the source of this quote - "No one ever went broke by 
> underestimating the intelligence of the American people" (a nice double 
> negative in its own right) - I came across this gem by Mencken:
> 
>     "The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before
>     small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way
>     through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality.
>     But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged
>     chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality
>     cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are on the man
>     who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre ­ the man who
>     can most easily 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." (/Baltimore Evening Sun/, July 26, 1920)
> 
> Thank goodness we haven't reached that point YET in America, huh?  :-P
> 
> 
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