When I watch the Republican field of aspirants to the GOP's nomination for the presidential election of 2012, I could, if I were not very careful, sink into a most profound depression. I cannot help but recall a quote long remembered from newspaperman H. L. Mencken, an old cynic if there ever was one. But he had a piercing focus on reality at times (good Baltimore booze permitting), and I am offering below that once-famous quote, as well as another one from a 1935 novel by C. S. Lewis, on the subject of American presidential politics.
Taken together they pretty much describe what the Republicans are offering.
It all makes my head spin and creates a hollow feeling in the stomach. This is
especially so if you realize that almost all impetus for the notoriety given to the
Republican primary race comes from the press, print and broadcast, that has a
voracious appetite for sensation and events of the lowest order. Without news
media attention to the likes of the Republican candidates, who would even know
about them?
Here I quote from H. L. Mencken, famous journalist with the Baltimore Sun
papers; satirist, and author of scholarly books on the American language. In
speaking about who would be most likely be chosen for president in the American
democracy, Mencken observed:
"...all the odds are on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and
mediocre -- the man who can most easily (and) 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 closely, the inner soul of the people. We move towards 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."
Now, I ask you does that comment, probably from the 1920s, remind you of any
persons at the recent Republican debate televised and endlessly reported from
Oakland University in Michigan?
Now, we take a look at a Sinclair Lewis novel from 1935:
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and
carrying the cross."
And based on the last few elections and the rise of the Christian Right, does that
comment by the author of Babbit sound familiar? I'll bet it does. There is nothing
new about rabble rousers, charlatans and mountebanks running for high office,
most especially when they know very little whereof they speak, and have a
thirsty press just waiting to drink the kool-aide.
I do not want to hear or read or see any more of Mr Cain, Gov Perry, Congresswoman
Bachman, or even the petty John Huntsman. Where are the issues, the seriousness of purpose, the intelligence and the education to carry out the most responsible and challenging public office in the entire world? In the present time, I can see only one person in whom these qualities seem to be present: President Barack Obama. Even so, he is very often on page 3 or buried even further in the news, while the GOP buffoons fill every front page. What a time we live in!
To the prescient comments of Mencken and Lewis, let's have a pithy thought from
the baseball diamond: "It's deja vu all over again!" ###