Zeno
11-23-2003, 10:52 PM
The following quote is a partially worked over and cooked blurb by H.L. Mencken, from his book Minority Report.
[ QUOTE ]
When I hear a man applauded by the mob I always feel a pan of pity for him. All he has to do to be hissed is to live long enough. Remember the tragedies of Wilson and [Teddy] Roosevelt. In their last days they were peeping sadly from the curtains like worn-out actors, as new and worse mountebanks took their places. The mob is faithful only in its infidelity. It always stones those it has worshipped……..
The old politician is always a sad and even a sort of tragic man. It would be humane to shoot all Presidents on the expiration of their terms, as I long ago proposed that every unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency be hanged. They dodder along in a truly obscene manner, and always end as public nuisances.
[/ QUOTE ]
I submit that they are all public nuisances long before they are candidates, prove it once they land in office, and then continue on in the same vainglorious way until the undertaker finally calls. So Mencken is right, I believe.
As soon as a President concludes his farewell address he should be shuttled of to Arlington, shot, and stuck into the earth. Unsuccessful Presidential candidates should be hung on a scaffold built in the shadow of the Washington Monument. Then the dead body should be tossed into the reflecting pool. Everyone should attend that can possibly fit into the area and the occasion should have all the ceremony of a large Sunday Picnic. Perhaps the Navy Band should play a concert.
I see these as not only honorable suggestions but helpful to the public spirit of our nation.
Le Misanthrope
[ QUOTE ]
When I hear a man applauded by the mob I always feel a pan of pity for him. All he has to do to be hissed is to live long enough. Remember the tragedies of Wilson and [Teddy] Roosevelt. In their last days they were peeping sadly from the curtains like worn-out actors, as new and worse mountebanks took their places. The mob is faithful only in its infidelity. It always stones those it has worshipped……..
The old politician is always a sad and even a sort of tragic man. It would be humane to shoot all Presidents on the expiration of their terms, as I long ago proposed that every unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency be hanged. They dodder along in a truly obscene manner, and always end as public nuisances.
[/ QUOTE ]
I submit that they are all public nuisances long before they are candidates, prove it once they land in office, and then continue on in the same vainglorious way until the undertaker finally calls. So Mencken is right, I believe.
As soon as a President concludes his farewell address he should be shuttled of to Arlington, shot, and stuck into the earth. Unsuccessful Presidential candidates should be hung on a scaffold built in the shadow of the Washington Monument. Then the dead body should be tossed into the reflecting pool. Everyone should attend that can possibly fit into the area and the occasion should have all the ceremony of a large Sunday Picnic. Perhaps the Navy Band should play a concert.
I see these as not only honorable suggestions but helpful to the public spirit of our nation.
Le Misanthrope