Political quote hits the mark!

[backupr9]

Gor­don Crovitz’s ex­cel­lent “The Great In­ter­net Power Grab” about the self-ag­gran­diz-ing moves of the Fed­eral Com-mu­ni­ca­tions Com­mis­sion (In-for­ma­tion Age, Feb. 9) brings to mind a vin­tage quote from H.L. Mencken: “The whole aim of prac­ti­cal pol­i­tics is to keep the pop­u­lace alarmed (and hence clam­orous to be led to safety) by men­ac­ing it with an end­less se­ries of hob­gob­lins, all of them imag­i­nary.”

[Richard S]

The U. S. Senator on whose staff I was privileged to work while in college and law school used to refer to that phenomenon as "pointing with pride while viewing with alarm."



_{Edit: Corrected typo.}