I am in the process of taking my native curmudgeonliness to the extreme; I am reading H. L. Mencken. It is having an impact upon me already. I feel more disgusted about the news; more distressed about our politicians; more disturbed about the pointlessness of my voting in November (I’m a Democrat living in Utah; need I say more?).
Mencken would be observing the current state of partisan paralysis in Congress and saying, “I told you so.” They were all a bunch of mountebanks and poltroons to him. Reading his “Notes on Democracy,” first published in 1926, the most outstanding thing that slaps one in the face is that NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Our democratic process is just as embedded with dishonorable opportunists now as it was in Mencken’s time.
To be sure, Mencken was a gargantuan grouch, an unapologetic elitist, and an unwavering critic of hypocrisy wherever he spotted it, typically in government or religion. In other words, he’s a great read!