The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
Interpretation
Increasing democratic participation helps address the shortcomings of democracy.
H. L. Mencken's quote suggests that when the failings of a democratic system become apparent, rather than moving away from democratic ideals, society should enhance and expand democratic processes. By encouraging greater citizen involvement and decision-making, the weaknesses of the system can be remedied, leading to a more effective governance that truly reflects the will of the people.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech advocating for voting rights.
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
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
A poet more than thirty years old is simply an overgrown child.
Today we voted as Democrats and Republicans. Tomorrow we begin again as New Yorkers.
Optimism comes less easily today, not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracy's enemies have refined their instruments of repression.
America will be far safer if we reduce the chances of a terrorist attack in one of our cities than if we diminish the civil liberties of our own people.
Whatever one's religion in his private life may be, for the officeholder, nothing takes precedence over his oath to uphold the Constitution and all its parts - including the First Amendment and the strict separation of church and state.
The bitter hatreds that now poison Middle Eastern politics are rooted in the real or perceived wrong of the setting up of a Jewish State in an Islamic region. In view of all that the Jews had been through, it must have seemed a fair and humane solution. Probably deep familiarity with the Old Testament had given the European and American decision-makers some sort of idea that this really was the historic homeland of the Jews.
With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion. With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race.
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