Mencken #21 - What The Common Man Longs For

Here's another quote from that wonderful Mencken book, Notes On Democracy. Published in 1926, it may as well have been published last week because nearly every quote contained therein hits home as though it were written yesterday. This quote reminds us of Mencken's belief that you cannot legislate morality. As I read somewhere once, "If you look to the law for your version of right and wrong you're going to have a hard time of it," remembering that apartheid, Die Endlösung der Judenfrage and segregation were all "law."

“What the common man longs for in this world, before and above all his other longings, is the simplest and most ignominious sort of peace... He is willing to sacrifice everything else to it. He puts it above his dignity and he puts it above his pride. Above all, he puts it above his liberty. The fact, perhaps, explains his veneration for policemen, in all the forms they take – his belief that there is a mysterious sanctity in law, however absurd it may be in fact."

Image credits
1. http://donswaim.com/bierce-ambrose-henry.html

2. http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1380493459l/17835058.jpg

I Fucking Love H.L Mencken