There's really no point to voting. If it made any difference, it would probably be illegal.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that voting is ineffective and implies that real change is prevented by those in power.
H. L. Mencken's quote reflects a cynical view of the political system, asserting that the act of voting holds little significance in effecting real change. By claiming that if voting made a meaningful difference it would be prohibited, Mencken conveys a sense of distrust towards political processes and the existing power structures that may seek to maintain the status quo.
In practice
During a debate on the importance of civic engagement, you could use this quote to illustrate skepticism about the effectiveness of voting.
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.
The government is tottering. We must deal it the death blow an any cost. To delay action is the same as death.
The Cold War did end in the victory of one side and in the defeat of the other. This reality cannot be denied, despite the understandable sensitivities that such a conclusion provokes among the tenderhearted in the West and some of the former leaders of the defeated side.
In the United States large corporations control some members of Congress. All this does is delay the corporation’s funeral at our expense.
I want to just take a moment to thank the Teabaggers. Thank you so much for helping us pass health care, for resurrecting the Obama presidency. I know they're saying, 'Why are you thanking me? I was so against it, I marched on Washington with tea bags hanging off my Founding Fathers costume, with a gun on my hip and a picture of Obama dressed as Hitler, screaming about his birth certificate.' And America saw that and said, 'I think I'll go with the calm black man.'
Power must never be trusted without a check.
It is often suggested that the A.N.C. is controlled by the Communist Party, by Communists. Well, I have been long enough in the A.N.C. to know that that has never been true.
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