H.L. Mencken is often regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the early 20th century. Here are some of his timeless quotes on politics, democracy, government and elections.
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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.
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Government is a broker in pillage, and every election is a sort of advance auction in stolen goods.
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Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
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Democracy, too, is a religion. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.
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Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
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Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
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Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
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If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.
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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.
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All government, of course, is against liberty.
Not surprised. Humans are manipulative after all, especially power hungry humans.
Have recognized manipulation for a long time, though never seriously questioned election integrity until 2020. Had some prior doubts about Adams and Nixon being robbed, and issues here in my home state with numbers seemingly not matching up, but wasn't until 2020 that the obvious became as clear as day: we've been dealing with "Man of the Year" selections (though unlike the movie, not a computer glitch, but human intent) for quite some time.
I absolutely do not prefer manipulation and tampering. Generally, I prefer less democratic involvement, or rather more strict requirements of qualification and competence from those eligible to participate in democratic processes. Ideally, all should have the opportunity to be educated enough to warrant their democratic participation.
And if there is to be a democratic process, then the rules must be followed. No cheating.
Probably at least half, if not higher, and possibly ALL. Consider those who are aware that they are being, or at least possibly being manipulated, still vote for manipulators or puppets of the manipulators... but why still vote that way? Part of us still wants to believe that the potential (or likely) manipulator is actually authentic. We give them a chance, and if they expose themselves as frauds, we don't vote for them again. But then guess what? We get to do it all over again the next cycle... never-ending loops.