After reading Ezra Klein’s remarks about the “hidden Hillary Clinton”, I was reminded of an essay I read in during my senior year in high school. The essay, entitled “The Politician“, was written by H.L. Mencken. In his essay, Mr. Mencken describes a political candidate who begins with the intention of telling the truth always, but quickly discovers that being so honest about what is wrong and what can or cannot be done to improve a situation is not getting him the support from voters that he needs to win an election. Therefore he resorts to what all the other politicians are doing: making promises he cannot keep, promises that can never be, because that is what he must do if he hopes to win.
Initially, Mr. Mencken’s essay may seem like an indictment against politicians as well as a clear indication that he believes no politicians are honest. But a closer read indicates that he does not blame the politicians entirely. In fact, he states, “the manner in which they reach public office. They seldom if ever get there by merit alone, at least in democratic states. Sometimes, to be sure, it happens, but only by a kind of miracle. They are chosen normally for quite different reasons, the chief of which is simply their power to impress and enchant the intellectually underprivileged.”
Ezra Klein said Hillary Clinton “often seems scared to tell voters what she really thinks for fear they’ll disagree. Her knowledge of the painful trade-offs of governing can curdle into a paralyzing recognition of all the ways she could be attacked for taking a clear position.” This concern, whether real or imagined, might seem baseless or give the impression that Hillary Clinton and her campaign staff do not trust voters,
H.L. Mencken, speaking about political candidates, posed these questions in his essay: “Will any of them venture to tell the plain truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the situation of the country, foreign or domestic? Will any of them refrain from promises that he knows he can’t fulfill – that no human being could fulfill? Will any of them utter a word, however obvious, that will alarm and alienate any” voters? Mr Mencken’s answer was “maybe for a few weeks at the start. Maybe before the campaign really begins. Maybe behind the door. But not after the issue is fairly joined, and the struggle is on in earnest.”
His reason for such a pessimistic opinion was that “The winner will be whoever promises the most with the least probability of delivering anything.” Mencken wrote that “sense really disquiets and alarms them [the voters] – that it makes them, at best, intolerably uncomfortable,” because “truth, to the overwhelming majority of mankind, is indistinguishable from a headache.”
While we might object to Mencken’s dismal portrayal of citizens of the United States, one cannot deny the truth in his stinging words. People do not always want to hear the truth. They do not always want to know that that moving forward and resolving problems will not happen without struggle and sacrifice and finding common ground. Hillary Clinton, as Ezra Klein noted, “is relentless in her efforts to find shared ground on which to make progress.”
Isn’t that what we want in a leader, in our next President?
Moderately liberal, liberally moderate, American flag waving Democrat! Bachelor of Arts in History with concentration in Early American History and Abraham Lincoln
Graduate student pursuing a Master of Arts Degree online in American History at Southern New Hampshire University