As we are assailed with all the promises and alibis that accompany another presidential election year, I would like to offer my readers a healthy antidote to the mendacity of politicians. Take some time off from campaign watching to read Mencken.

Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) was one of our most brilliant and penetrating journalists. He was also one of our most skeptical and acerbic. He believed in only one value –- liberty -– and he had absolutely no faith in politics, politicians or government.

He once declared, “The typical lawmaker of today is a man devoid of principle –- a mere counter in a grotesque and knavish game. If the right pressure could be applied to him he would be cheerfully in favor of polygamy, astrology, or cannibalism.”

How right he was –- and still is.

Here are some choice political nuggets from Mencken, all of which are as timely as ever.

“A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.”

“A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.”

“A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.”

“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.”

“Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other, and the candidates spend so much time making each other's speeches, that by the time election day is past there is nothing much to do save turn the sitting rascals out and let a new gang in.”

“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.”

“For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”

“In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.”

“It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.”

“Most people want security in this world, not liberty.”