Something that made me go...Hummm

[genieroze]

Found this on another site

"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 (1880 - 1956)

:crazy:

[democratreformed]

1. It sure wrinkled my brow, too. What an excellent quote. n/t

[L84TEA]

2. DING DING DING....and we have A

WINNER!! lmao

[scarletwoman]

3. Ouch. (n/t)

[Sleepysage]

4. That's bloody fantastic

I could only dream of being that cynical.

I bow to the master.

[skylarmae]

5. hmmmm is right. Tried to get my staunch mormon Mom to

consider the science behind the planet being more than 6,000 yrs. old. Absolutely, no way. Dinosaurs never walked on this planet. The good Lord saw fit to drag these 'dead dino bones' from some other universe over to here so we could all fight over the oil.

AAHHHHHHH! Maybe Mencken knew a few mormons.

[idiosyncratic]

6. Great quote.

:kick:

[George_S]

7. Mencken: one of the greatest writers ever.

[mitchum]

8. Mencken was a conservative reactionary...

but that doesn't mean he was always wrong

[nuxvomica]

9. Here's more

I had seen the quote on a number of blogs and wondered about the context. I found this expanded version posted recently at www.petebevin.com.


“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 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 count himself lost. His one aim is to disarm suspicion, to arouse confidence in his orthodoxy, to avoid challenge. If he is a man of convictions, of enthusiasm, or self-respect, it is cruelly hard…

“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 a mob with him by the force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second or 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 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 hearts desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

—H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Thanks, genieroze -- terrific quote!