Like most of you kids, I’ve heard H. L. Mencken quotes all of my adult life.  He is sometimes called the “Sage of Baltimore” for his witty and caustic commentary.  Mencken was the ultimate individualist and he believed, above all, in liberty.  His dogmatic emphasis on liberty got Mencken labeled a liberal and a conservative, depending upon the times, but Mencken was always consistent.  Although he lived in the early part of the Twentieth Century, I think Mencken’s critiques apply to our current times.

In 1962, Murray Rothbard wrote an article entitled H. L. Mencken-The Joyous Libertarian. Rothbard suggested that Mencken was a rare bird because he was both a serious thinker and a humorist.  This is likely due to the influence Mark Twain had on the young Mencken.  Rothbard further stated that an individualist and libertarian had a difficult time ahead of him in the world of 1962, and he suggested there were three options:  1)  Retire from the social and political world into a world of esthetic contemplation; 2)  Try to change the world; or 3)  Stay in the world, enjoying the humor of the situation.  Mencken obviously chose door number three and we are all better for it.  His lampooning of his times ring true today.

Think about these quotes in the context of the issues we currently face:

Donald Trump.  “The men the American public admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.”

Prohibition and the war on drugs.  The prohibitionists “lust to inflict inconvenience, discomfort, and, whenever possible, disgrace upon the persons they hate — which is to say, upon everyone who is free from their barbarous theological superstitions, and is having a better time in the world than they are. They cannot stop the use of alcohol, nor even appreciably diminish it, but they can badger and annoy everyone who seeks to use it decently, and they can fill the jails with men taken for purely artificial offences, and they can get satisfaction thereby for the Puritan yearning to browbeat and injure, to torture and terrorize, to punish and humiliate all who show any sign of being happy. And all this they can do with a safe line of policemen and judges in front of them; always they can do it without personal risk.”

The systematic destruction of public education.  “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out… without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.”

The Presidential campaign.  “A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.”

Global Warming.  “I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.”

War.  “Love is like war:  Easy to begin but very hard to stop.”

Why we okies are so punative.  “Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”

Ok, kids, you’re on your own.  Here’s your homework.  Look up H.L. Mencken and see if his insight isn’t timeless.  Let me know if you find some quotes relevant to  into our current issues.