These are times of controversy and turmoil, with the bitter debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump remaining a hot topic and the U.S. Supreme Court issuing landmark decisions on free speech, the administrative state, and presidential immunity. So I decided to catch up with H.L. Mencken and get his take.
Why Mencken? The answer is simple. He was an iconoclast. Funny, insightful, irreverent, and insightful. A seasoned journalist working during what could be called the Golden Age of journalism. An essayist and cultural critic, he was humorous, trenchant, combative, and an authority on language. Just the type of person I enjoy spending time with, conversing with, and listening to.
In a democracy, one party always tries its best to prove the other party unfit to rule, and both are successful and right.
Mencken (1880-1956) was also known as the Sage of Baltimore. He was so influential that even Ernest Hemingway mentioned him in The Sun Also Rises, when the protagonist Jake Byrnes says, “Many young people learn what they like and dislike from Mencken.” You might agree, after reading Mencken’s answer to my question. His “Notes on Democracy” and “American Language.”
Jeffrey Wernick: Mr. Menken, do you have any comments on the presidential debate?
H.L. Mencken: One great and glorious day, the common man of this country will finally get his heart’s desire and the White House will be graced by a total fool.
JW: What do you think about Joe Biden and Donald Trump?
HLM: The whole purpose of real politics is to intimidate the people with one imaginary imp after another, to make the masses anxious and clamor to safety. A demagogue is someone who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to people he knows to be stupid.
JW: But don’t you think there is a moral difference between the qualities of the two candidates?
HLM: People would not expect to find chastity in a brothel, so why expect to find honesty and humanity in a government whose institutions are accustomed to lying, cheating, stealing, and, if necessary, killing those who resist?
JW: Do you think one candidate poses a greater threat to democracy versus the other?
HLM: In a democracy, one party always tries its best to prove the other unfit to govern, and usually both succeed and are right. One of the main purposes of law in a democratic society is to burden the intellect and render it powerless. Since Aristotle, the ideal government of all thinking people is one that leaves the individual alone, one that barely escapes no government at all.
JW: Donald Trump believes that in order to save America and make America great again, America has no future unless we adopt and implement his ideas. What do you think?
HLM: The type of people who demand that the government enforce their views are always the type whose views are stupid.
Judges are law students who mark their own exam papers.
JW: Joe Biden cites his own good sense as a key reason why people should vote for him. Do you agree?
HLM: Every decent person is ashamed of the government they live in. Whenever “A” tries to impose his moral standards on “B” through legislation, “A” is usually a villain.
JW: What did you think about them challenging each other to a golf game?
HLM: If I had my way, a man convicted of golfing would be ineligible to hold any public office in the United States.
JW: Do you think speech that is not moderated by platforms poses an existential threat to democracy?
HLM: I believe that if an honest minority, however small, wants to read it, it should be perfectly lawful to print it, even if it outrages common modesty and prejudice. The solution for the majority is avoidance, not prohibition.
JW: After reviewing the latest set of decisions from the Supreme Court, what would you like to say?
HLM: Perhaps the worst thing that has happened in America during my time in office is the decline of confidence in the courts. No one can be sure any longer that the courts will adhere to the Constitution’s most explicit commands in any particular case. Instead, everyone is becoming more or less certain in advance that the courts will not comply. Judges are chosen not because they know and are for the Constitution, but precisely because they appear to be against it. Judges are law students who grade their own exam questions.
JW: Many people ask who is the greatest threat to democracy and the rule of law. I ask a different question: situation?
HLM: The most dangerous man in any government is the man who is able to think things through, regardless of prevalent superstitions and taboos, and who almost inevitably comes to the conclusion that the government he is subject to is perverse, insane, and intolerable.
JW: Do you think a limited government is possible, where the purpose function of the state is to protect individual freedoms and rights?
HLM: The average man’s love of liberty is nine times as fictitious as his love of reason, justice, and truth. … It takes a special kind of man to understand and enjoy liberty, and in a democratic society such a man is usually an outlaw. There has been no organized effort to suppress the government since Jefferson’s time. Since then, the American people have strengthened the power of the government and given it more and more authority over their own affairs. For their folly, the people have paid with higher taxes and less freedom. Ostensibly, their purpose is to punish antisocial behavior, but in reality, it is to punish heretical opinions. At least 95 out of 100 Americans consider this process sincere and even laudable. It is virtually impossible to convince them that there is anything evil in it. In other words, they cannot understand the concept of liberty.
If a politician discovered that there were cannibals among his constituents, he would promise to treat the missionaries to dinner.
JW: How would you describe your candidate’s positions on taxation, spending, the role of government in society, and the appropriate size, scale, and scope?
HLM: When civilians are robbed, decent men are deprived of the fruits of their industry and thrift. When governments are robbed, the worst thing that happens is that a few scoundrels and slackers have less money to play with than they had before. Governments are made up of a group of men just like you and me. They have no special talents for government work, not one for another. They only have the talent for getting and keeping office. Their main means of doing this is to seek out groups of people who crave and want something they can’t have, and promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten, the promise is worthless. The tenth time, it is fulfilled by robbing A to satisfy B. In other words, governments are brokers of robbery, and every election is an advance auction for stolen goods.
JW: In your opinion, what are the qualities of a successful candidate?
HLM: When a candidate for public office faces the electorate, he does not face reasonable people, but a horde of human beings characterized by an inability to examine ideas or understand anything but the most elementary things. They think entirely through emotion, and their dominant emotion is fear of what they do not understand. Thus confronted, a candidate must either howl with the herd or lose. … The odds are high that the most cunning and mediocre person will win. If a politician found out there were cannibals in his district, he would promise to invite missionaries to dinner.
JW: Which conspiracy theory do you think is most plausible?
HLM: The central belief of every Fool is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against common rights and true rewards.
JW: Lastly, thank you for taking the time to discuss and be patient with my questions. Who are you planning on voting for?
HLM: There’s really no point in voting, if anything changes it will probably be illegal.
