H.L.Nencken -- my kind of guy.
Posted by katrinam41 2 months, 3 weeks ago to Ask the Gulch
FEE.org
ALL COMMENTARY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
12 H.L. Mencken Quotes on Government, Democracy, and Politicians
Born on the 12th of September, here are 12 quotes from the acerbic author.
CULTURE
DEMOCRACY
H.L. MENCKEN
POLITICS
QUOTES
Mark J. Perry
Mark J. Perry
mencken
Today (September 12th) is H.L. Mencken’s birthday. The “Sage of Baltimore” (pictured above) was born in 1880 and is regarded by many as one of the most influential American journalists, essayists, and writers of the early 20th century. To recognize the great political writer on his birthday, here are 12 of my favorite Mencken quotes:
Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.
A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
As democracy is perfected, the office of the president 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.
ALL COMMENTARY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
12 H.L. Mencken Quotes on Government, Democracy, and Politicians
Born on the 12th of September, here are 12 quotes from the acerbic author.
CULTURE
DEMOCRACY
H.L. MENCKEN
POLITICS
QUOTES
Mark J. Perry
Mark J. Perry
mencken
Today (September 12th) is H.L. Mencken’s birthday. The “Sage of Baltimore” (pictured above) was born in 1880 and is regarded by many as one of the most influential American journalists, essayists, and writers of the early 20th century. To recognize the great political writer on his birthday, here are 12 of my favorite Mencken quotes:
Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.
A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
As democracy is perfected, the office of the president 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.
Attacks on Politicians are expected.
The fall of every Empire is inevitable.
The Magic is knowing only 2 things. Where you are, and where you are headed.
Our Empire is falling, and every major LEECH that lives off of it, has their hand out. And CRIMINALS like McConnel can BELIEVE that we shouldn't tie a border closing to a PANDERING Deal because they "Clash" some how is just a Primary Example of the problem.
NGOs, funded by our government, are paying the Coyotes and the people to rush our southern border. Those in my age group hope we can get Trump in, slow the trashing of our once great country, and maybe make it to retirement with enough resources to happily reminisce while paying Nero to Play his fiddle as our country is set ablaze.
The country is nearing the edge of a cliff, and we've been playing "two steps forward, one step back" for a long time.
Trump moved us one step back, but Biden pushed us two steps forward.
We're now at the edge of the cliff. Even if Trump gets in and moves us one step back, the one who comes after him will take us over the edge, and into the abyss.
The country is turning hard left toward socialism, and the schools are pushing that direction. Each generation of non-thinkers they turn out is more easily led that direction.
Regardless, just having Trump for 4 more years will let me retire when he leaves... If the conservatives can't hold on. (besides, outside of trump, I don't trust anyone)
I think either he failed to completely understand the creative/productive and the survival of what he would term: "The common man" There is no such thing. There is, however "A common politician" meaning: The worst and least qualified.
However, there is no context in the rhetorical musings in wikipedia .
Had I had time to read his stuff or at least get a more balanced view of the man, it's Hard to know his worth.
He despised FDR and the 'New Deal'. He knew more about economics than 99% of economists.
:-)
//Mencken recommended for publication philosopher and author Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living and called it "a really excellent piece of work". Shortly afterward, Rand addressed him in correspondence as "the greatest representative of a philosophy" to which she wanted to dedicate her life, "individualism" and later listed him as her favorite columnist.//
FIFY.
LOL
Yes, simpletons have taken over the White House, but they are "educated," "elite" simpletons!
“Why would anyone, with at least average intelligence, vote for candidates of either party?”
H.L. Mencken has your answer summed up in two quotations:
1). “The average man’s love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies.”
2). “The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.”
-------------------------------------------------------
Yet the 'average' person gets to vote to enslave the above average people.
The question is: what is the fix?