Today's Word—On Democracy

WORDman’s note: When the end of this quotation circulated so widely during the last presidential election, it was taken out of context. As the alert reader can see, Mencken’s critique was not of the elected, but of those who elect. A timely reminder that we the people deserve what we get. (Gender specificity original.)—TP

Democracy Works:

“[W]hen 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—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 be lost. 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. [emphasis added] 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 (1880-1956), journalist, author and political observer, writing in the Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

Followup on Friday's WORD and news of John McWethy's death in a skiing accident last week: Memorial Service beginning at 11 a.m., Thursday, February 14th, 2008, at the new Newseum, 555 Pennslvania Avenue NW, at 6th Street. A reception will follow, and information will be available about contributing to The John F. McWethy Fellowship in Reporting at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.