"But wars are not made by common folk, scratching
for livings in the heat of the day; they are made
by demagogues infesting palaces. It is not
necessary for these demagogues to complete the
sale of a war before they send the goods home, as
a storekeeper must complete the sale of, say, a
suit of clothes. They send the goods home first,
then convince the customer that he wants them....
But the main reason why it is easy to sell war to
peaceful people is that the demagogues who act as
salesmen quickly acquire a monopoly of both
public information and public instruction....
The dead are still dead, the fellows who lost
legs still lack them, war widows go on suffering
the orneriness of their second husbands, and
taxpayers continue to pay, pay, pay. In the
schools children are taught that the war was
fought for freedom, the home and God."
--H. L. Mencken
-- A Second Mencken Chrestomathy, pp. 57-59.
via Cafe Hayek.
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