No offense, but ...

Ever wonder how the improbable likes of incoming Speaker John Boehner, who is self-evidently one of the dimmer bulbs in Washington, ever gets elected to the United States House of Representatives in the first place?

The shortest answer, of course, is that it depends on the congressman's district; he doesn't get himself elected, "The People" do it for him.

Yes, the people, we those virtuous people, or in Boehner's case, they those virtuous people. Which leads us to the residents of southwest Ohio, home of the state's mostly rural 8th Congressional District. Which in turn leads me to an H.L. Mencken essay that I reread today, "The Anglo-Saxon," in which Mencken cites a sociological study done of southern Ohioans, circa early 1920s: in other words, the intellectual forebears of "The People" who elected John Boehner to the U.S. Congress.

I quote from the study:

Here gross superstition exercises strong control over the thought and action of a large proportion of the people. Syphilitic and other venereal diseases are common and increasing over whole counties, while in some communities nearly every family is afflicted with inherited or infectious disease. Many cases of incest are known; inbreeding is rife. Imbeciles, feeble-minded, and delinquents are numerous, politics is corrupt, and selling of votes is common, petty crimes abound, the schools have been badly managed and poorly attended. Cases of rape, assault, and robbery are of almost weekly occurrence within five minutes' walk of the corporation limits of one of the county seats, while in another county political control is held by a self-confessed criminal. Alcoholic intemperance is excessive. Gross immorality and its evil results are by no means confined to the hill districts, but are extreme also in the towns. 

Mencken didn't provide a citation for this study, so I did a little looking around and ... what do you know? He wasn't joking; it's from a scholarly article titled "Community Disorganization," from The Journal of Social Forces, 1924, by one J.F. Steiner.

And now you know how, at least indirectly and given some time, the likes of a John Boehner can get elected to the United States House of Representatives in the first place -- by the syphilitic, inbred, feeble-minded, criminally corrupt, poorly schooled, alcoholic and grossly immoral People.

My apologies, naturally -- as well as condolences -- to those in the 8th District smart enough to have voted against Boehner. No offense.

Comments

[Bob]

A worthy submission to Rolling Stone Magazine as a letter to the editor given that it is way too worthy for the NYT or WaPo!

Thank you - brilliant!!

[Southern Quaker]

You're quoting a "scholarly" article from 1924 which claims that southern Ohio is rampant with inbreeding and incest.

What utter dreck. Let me count the logical fallacies ... Appeal to authority? check
Appeal to ridicule? check
Biased sample? check
Ad Hominem attack? check
Post Hoc reasoning? check

And no, I'm not from southern Ohio, and I despise Boehner. But if the same tactic had been used to suggest that the high incarceration rate of African American males can be attributed to racial characteristics - based on a 90-year old sociological study - you would be apoplectic, and rightly so.

[Kyle]

@ Southern Quaker

I get the impression that this was more tongue-in-cheek than you're taking it.

If not, you raise a valid point.

[Bob]

Crap like that is a prime example of why people fall under the spell of Conservatives. It's not funny, and I don't think it was intended to be. It was posted to make you feel superior to people you know nothing about, and care less about. You're no better than anyone else, no matter what having a blog and a liberal arts education may lead you to think.

[Southern Quaker]

@Kyle, noted, and I did consider the possibility. However, the "satire" was buried so deeply under the scorn that I couldn't find it.

[Taylor Wray]

HAHA. Hilarious. Nice post.

[PWL]

Well, if you want further elucidation as to why "The People" are the way they are, and why they elect John Boehners, check out another essay of H.L. Mencken's: "The Commonwealth of Morons."

[PWL]

Bob: H.L:. Mencken WAS a conservative. He just didn't have a very high opinion of the American public.

But SOMETHING has to explain the rancid stew of ignorance, lunacy, and flat-out superstition and magicla thinking which "conservatism" has become in this co0untry. H.L. Mencken is as good a place as any to start...

[malcolmspeakeasy]

Thank You! Definitely made getting out of bed today worth it.
LMAOROTF!

[Chris]

There is a reason why this country is governed so poorly, that is because the people we elect are of poor quality. that reflects directly upon the people that vote. The people that even bother to vote. What a sad state of affairs this country is in.

[smartalek]

"a scholarly article titled 'Community Disorganization,' from The Journal of Social Forces, 1924, by one J.F. Steiner."

Well, see, there's your problem right there:
Look at the name of the author of this alleged "study;" "J. F. Steiner" -- obviously a Jooo name.
And this was at a time when a significant slice of the American populace was not just "flirting" with international Communism -- they were joining it and aggressively pursuing it right here in the American Homeland! And they were -- and their political progeny, the LIEberals and the whole democRAT party now are -- actually proud of this! (Go download -- do NOT give them your hard-earned money by buying or renting -- the movie "Reds" if you doubt this.) And who was in the midst of this right up to their oversized noses? That's right, the Joooos -- from Marx, Engels, and Trotsky right down to all the Jooo lawyers at the ACLU, Alinsky (nuff said!), and all of Hollyweird, the LIEberal media, and the wurst of Wall Street from Goldman-Sachs thru George Soros to Bernie Madoff (and the only thing that makes him any different from the rest is they haven't gotten caught... yet)!

And because the Poe principle applies to Teabeggars and conservatards at least as much as it does to Dominionist would-be theocrats, I hasten to add: yes, this is, in fact, snark.
(Mind you, I never claimed it to be GOOD snark.)
And yes, I am myself both a Member of the Tribe and pretty far to the left (and that does matter in such contexts).