Monday, November 12, 2012

A quote from H.L Mencken, truer today than when he wrote it.

* Liberty and democracy are eternal enemies, and every one knows it who has ever given any sober reflection to the matter. A democratic state may profess to venerate the name, and even pass laws making it officially sacred, but it simply cannot tolerate the thing. In order to keep any coherence in the governmental process, to prevent the wildest anarchy in thought and act, the government must put limits upon the free play of opinion. In part, it can reach that end by mere propaganda, by the bald force of its authority — that is, by making certain doctrines officially infamous. But in part it must resort to force, i.e., to law. One of the main purposes of laws in a democratic society is to put burdens upon intelligence and reduce it to impotence. Ostensibly, their aim is to penalize anti-social acts; actually their aim is to penalize heretical opinions. At least ninety-five Americans out of every 100 believe that this process is honest and even laudable; it is practically impossible to convince them that there is anything evil in it. In other words, they cannot grasp the concept of liberty. Always they condition it with the doctrine that the state, i.e., the majority, has a sort of right of eminent domain in acts, and even in ideas — that it is perfectly free, whenever it is so disposed, to forbid a man to say what he honestly believes. Whenever his notions show signs of becoming "dangerous," ie, of being heard and attended to, it exercises that prerogative. And the overwhelming majority of citizens believe in supporting it in the outrage. Including especially the Liberals, who pretend — and often quite honestly believe — that they are hot for liberty. They never really are. Deep down in their hearts they know, as good democrats, that liberty would be fatal to democracy — that a government based upon shifting and irrational opinion must keep it within bounds or run a constant risk of disaster. They themselves, as a practical matter, advocate only certain narrow kinds of liberty — liberty, that is, for the persons they happen to favor. The rights of other persons do not seem to interest them. If a law were passed tomorrow taking away the property of a large group of presumably well-to-do persons — say, bondholders of the railroads — without compensation and without even colorable reason, they would not oppose it; they would be in favor of it. The liberty to have and hold property is not one they recognize. They believe only in the liberty to envy, hate and loot the man who has it.
-- "Liberty and Democracy" in the Baltimore Evening Sun (13 April 1925), also in A Second Mencken Chrestomathy : New Selections from the Writings of America's Legendary Editor, Critic, and Wit (1994) edited by Terry Teachout, p. 35

11 comments:

LL said...

A Politically Correct life in the present - perfectly defined.

Anonymous said...

The sage of Baltimore understood Americans like no other social critic before or since. He didn't sugar coat his opinions and he didn't care what people thought about him either. The man was an irreplaceable national treasure.

Freedom First said...

Thank you Sir. Excellent quote.

Erinyes said...

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose...

Anonymous said...

Wow.....

And how often are these heard or expressed today??

The silence is deafening.

SWIFT said...

It would seem H. L. Mencken understood the Matrix before it was a house hold word. Also,it makes me wonder if he knew and perhaps socialized with, Eric Hoffer.

Aged parent said...

Thank you for posting these brilliant remarks.

Anonymous said...

A favorite Mencken quote of mine;

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats. H. L. Mencken

BA III

Anonymous said...

fsistiIboopeExchange "GM bondholders" for "railroad bondholders".
Just the word "politically correct", is an insult to liberty. Yet it is constantly used by people calling themselves "Liberals" My experience is that most people that call themselves liberals have seldom even considered what is in the name. ppfffft. 3% for life.

David Forward said...

Another accurate Mencken quote:

"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods."

Carteach said...

I am going to post this quote myself, after reading it here. It certainly strikes a resident chord within me.