from william gibson's blog:
"...the larger the mob, the harder the test. In
small areas, before small electorates, the first-rate man occasionally
fights his way through, carrying even the mob with him by force of his
personality. But when the field is nationwide...the force of
personality cannot so readily make itself felt, then all the odds are
on the man who is, intrinsically, the most devious and mediocre... The
presidency tends, year by year, to go to such men. As democracy is
perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people... On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the
land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will
be adorned by a moron."
--H.L. Mencken, writing in The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920