Quote of the Day: H.L. Mencken on the Lofty Ideal of Democracy

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By H.L. Mencken
https://fee.org/articles/quote-of-the-day-hl-mencken-on-the-lofty-ideal-of-democracy/?action=push&utm_medium=push&utm_source=push_notification

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 the fact that they are quite incapable of weighing ideas,
or even of comprehending any save the most elemental...

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. ...

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.

– H.L. Mencken, July 26, 1920