Notes On Democracy


Read by Lisa Reichert

(5 stars; 3 reviews)

American journalist H.L. Mencken’s Notes On Democracy was originally published in 1926, yet is still relevant almost 100 years later.
Mencken has proposed some succinct and satirical definitions of democracy, such as,
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” And,
“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey house.”
One predictable result of democracy, Mencken explains, is that the professional politician, who’s objective is always the job, and not the principle, is in a constant struggle for office and its rewards. The defeated candidate commonly takes his failure very badly. Regarding these sore loser “lame ducks”, he says:
“…now and then there appears one whose wounds are too painful to be assuaged…. …This majestic victim not infrequently seeks surcease by a sort of running amok. That is to say, he turns what remains of his influence with the mob [common man] into a weapon against the nation as a whole, and becomes a chronic maker of trouble.”
Notes On Democracy is a refreshing description of what a democracy is, and how it works, …and how it doesn’t work, and has timeless relevance in light of today’s political climate. - Summary by Lisa Reichert (5 hr 0 min)

Chapters

Part I. Democratic Man. Chapter 1: His Appearance in the World 10:22 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part I. Chapter 2: Varieties of Homo Sapiens 9:16 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part I. Chapter 3: The New Psychology 10:18 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part I. Chapter 4: Politics Under Democracy 8:49 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part I. Chapter 5: The Role of the Hormones 10:23 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part I. Chapter 6: Envy as a Philosophy 13:04 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part I. Chapter 7: Liberty and Democratic Man 11:36 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part I. Chapter 8: The Effects Upon Progress 19:38 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part I. Chapter 9: The Eternal Mob 6:27 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part II. The Democratic State. Chapter 1: The Two Kinds of Democracy 8:52 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part II. Chapter 2: The Popular Will 16:42 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part II. Chapter 3: Disproportional Representation 14:29 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part II. Chapter 4: The Politician Under Democracy 11:35 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part II. Chapter 5: Utopia 12:31 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part II. Chapter 6: The Occasional Exception 10:22 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part II. Chapter 7: The Maker of Laws 11:18 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part II. Chapter 8: The Rewards of Virtue 12:25 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part II. Chapter 9: Footnote on Lame Ducks 9:55 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part III. Democracy and Liberty. Chapter 1: The Will to Peace 8:44 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part III. Chapter 2: The Democrat as Moralist 20:28 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part III. Chapter 3: Where Puritanism Fails 13:46 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part III. Chapter 4: Corruption Under Democracy 23:09 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part IV. Coda. Chapter 1: The Future of Democracy 16:44 Read by Lisa Reichert
Part IV. Chapter 2: Last Words 9:16 Read by Lisa Reichert