“A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.”

—  H.L. Mencken

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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H.L. Mencken photo
H.L. Mencken281
American journalist and writer 1880–1956

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“What is any political campaign save a concerted effort to turn out a set of politicians who are admittedly bad and put in a set who are thought to be better. The former assumption, I believe is always sound; the latter is just as certainly false. For if experience teaches us anything at all it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.”

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“So, our honest politicians and our honorable corporation heads owe it to their reputations to bring their activities out into the open.”

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