Henry Louis Mencken was a 20th century journalist who wrote for the Baltimore Sun newspaper. There was a quote attributed to him which was brought to my attention, the quote I was given was altered to read:
The correct quote is listed below in the second paragraph. The meaning is the same just the wording is different.
Mencken wrote as follows about the difficulties of good men reaching national office when such campaigns must necessarily be conducted remotely:
The larger the mob, the harder the test. In small areas, before small electorates, a first-rate man occasionally fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his personality. But when the field is nationwide, and the fight must be waged chiefly at second and third hand, and the force of personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then 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.^ Mencken, Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920.”
We are now in that time when this prediction has become real.
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