Sharing with Lippmann and H. L. Mencken a wan contempt for democracy, Arnold underscored his lack of faith in popular rationality by suggesting that “from a humanitarian point of view,” the best form of government was “that which we find in an insane asylum.” Doctors do not instruct or argue with the inmates about their delusions; rather they make them “as comfortable as possible, regardless of their respective moral deserts.”5 The lesson for the “new class” was clear: since the masses can’t handle too much reality, keep them spellbound with empty incantations.
