All of the American's foreign wars have been fought with foes either too weak to resist them or too heavily engaged elsewhere to make more than a half-hearted attempt. The combats with Mexico and Spain were not wars; they were simply lynchings.
Interpretation
This quote criticizes America's foreign wars as being fought against weak opponents or under unfair conditions.
H. L. Mencken's quote reflects a cynical view of American foreign policy, suggesting that the nation's military engagements have often been against adversaries that could not genuinely resist, rendering them more akin to acts of aggression than honorable warfare. He implies that wars against nations like Mexico and Spain lacked the characteristics of true conflict, instead characterizing them as acts of violence against the defenseless.
In practice
This quote would be impactful in a debate about the ethics of war in a public forum.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
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The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
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I suspect there have been a number of conspiracies that never were described or leaked out. But I suspect none of the magnitude and sweep of Watergate.
I still passionately support comprehensive immigration reform legislation with a path to full and equal citizenship.
To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect, and their oneness.
In a democracy, citizens pass judgment on their government, and if they are kept in the dark about what their government is doing, they cannot be in a position to make well-grounded decisions.
Herbert Hoover once ran on the slogan, 'Two cars in every garage'. Apparently, the Republican candidate this year is running on the slogan, 'Two families in every garage'.
The peoples of many countries are being taxed to the point of poverty and starvation in order to enable Governments to engage in a mad race in armament which, if permitted to continue, may well result in war. This grave menace to the peace of the world is due in no small measure to the uncontrolled activities of the manufacturers and merchants of engines of destruction, and it it must be met by the concerted actions of the peoples of all Nations.
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