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.
-H.L. Mencken, the Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
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