A politician normally prospers under democracy in proportion ... as he excels in the invention of imaginary perils and imaginary defenses against them.
Interpretation
Politicians thrive in democracies by creating threats and false solutions.
H. L. Mencken suggests that politicians often find success in democratic systems by fabricating dangers that do not truly exist, alongside the proposed solutions to confront these imagined crises. This highlights how manipulation and rhetoric can be used to gain power and influence, feeding on fear and anxiety within the populace.
In practice
During a campaign rally, a candidate could reference this quote to discuss their opponent's use of fear tactics.
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.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
Since the 1930s the technique of buying votes with the voters' own money has been expanded to an extent undreamed of by earlier politicians.
Politics is so personal, vicious and immediate, how are you going to get anything done? Even the local politics where I live have gotten so ugly.
No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on obtaining it.
The United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Our public life withers when only the most extreme voices get attention. Most of all, democracy breaks down when the average person feels their voice doesn't matter; that the system is rigged in favor of the rich or the powerful or some narrow interest.
Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.
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