Prejudices, second seriesMencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)
History
Prejudices, second series
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)
American essays -- 20th century; American literature -- History and criticism; Literature -- History and criticism
to reconcile them, in some dark way or other, to the prevailing
platitudes, and so get them heeded. To-day no one seriously maintains,
as all Americans once maintained, that the states can go on existing
together as independent commonwealths, each with its own laws, its own
legal theory and its own view of the common constitutional bond. And
to-day no one seriously maintains, as all Americans once maintained,
that the nation may safely potter on without adequate means of defense.
However unpleasant it may be to contemplate, the fact is plain that
the American people, during the next century, will have to fight to
maintain their place in the sun.
Roosevelt lived just long enough to see his notions in these directions
take on life, but not long enough to see them openly adopted. To the
extent of his prevision he was a genuine leader of the nation, and
perhaps in the years to come, when his actual ideas are disentangled
from the demagogic fustian in which he had to wrap them, his more
honest pronunciamentoes will be given canonical honors, and he will be
ranked among the prophets. He saw clearly more than one other thing
that was by no means obvious to his age--for example, the inevitability
of frequent wars under the new world-system of extreme nationalism;
again, the urgent necessity, for primary police ends, of organizing the
backward nations into groups of vassals, each under the hoof of some
first-rate power; yet again, the probability of the breakdown of the
old system of free competition; once more, the high social utility of
the Spartan virtues and the grave dangers of sloth and ease; finally,
the incompatibility of free speech and democracy. I do not say that
he was always quite honest, even when he was most indubitably right.
But in so far as it was possible for him to be honest and exist at all
politically, he inclined toward the straightforward thought and the
candid word. That is to say, his instinct prompted him to tell the
truth, just as the instinct of Dr. Wilson prompts him to shift and
dissimulate. What ailed him was the fact that his lust for glory, when
it came to a struggle, was always vastly more powerful than his lust
for the eternal verities. Tempted sufficiently, he would sacrifice
anything and everything to get applause. Thus the statesman was
debauched by the politician, and the philosopher was elbowed out of
sight by the popinjay.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account