[Peace-discuss] H.L. Mencken

[John W.]

At 01:09 PM 3/31/2008, C. G. Estabrook wrote:

>It's more comforting to think that Bush is a moron -- he isn't --

You and I will always disagree on that, I guess.  I'll concede, 
reluctantly, that some of Bush's HANDLERS are not morons, although one 
could convincingly argue that ANYONE who is more concerned about short-term 
profits than about the long-term survival of the planet is a moron of 
incalculable dimensions.  But Bush himself is most definitely a moron by 
any definition.  He's absolutely incapable of nuanced thought, as he has 
demonstrated on any number of occasions.  "Big Business good....Evildoers 
bad."  He's a Neanderthal, a Frankenstein monster.


>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.

I'll concede that we in America exist behind a false front of democratic 
forms without (much) substance, and that most citizens are complicit by 
their silence.  Does that complicity not represent "the inner soul of the 
people", as Mencken said?  Perhaps the average citizen's ignorance is 
willful, arising from fear.  You're still making Mencken's point.


>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.

I'll concede, having read the Wikipedia entry, that Mencken was something 
of an elitist, and was influenced by certain German philosophers of the 
day.  But as an elitist he's in some very good company - Socrates and 
Plato, most of our nation's Founding Fathers, and W.E.B. DuBois, to name 
just a few political philosophers off the top of my head.  You'll probably 
disagree with me about the Founding Fathers.

In practice just about everyone is an elitist, and they all think that THEY 
occupy a position among the elite.  :-P


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

And you don't?  Hahahaha!  (I assume you're referring to verses 
10-14.)  Thanks for the laugh there at the end, Carl.  :-P



>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