Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“As a stampede of weasels just sought to con America into supporting another Mideast war, it is time remember America’s most underrated critic of bellicose folly. H.L. Mencken is famous for his smackdowns of politicians and ridicule of government and of much of American culture. But he also offered sage advice for citizens judging officialdom itching for carnage. … ‘Wars are not made by common folks, scratching for livings in the heat of the day, they are made by demagogues infesting palaces … The very unpopularity of war makes people ready to believe, when they suddenly confront it, that it has been thrust upon them … because their own demagogues have been pretending, all the while, to be trying to prevent it.” (06/25/25)
https://jimbovard.com/blog/2025/06/25/menckens-forgotten-wisdom-on-war/