The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.

Mencken coined this line in the early 1920s, during the post–World War I “Red Scare,” when U.S. politics and much of the press were saturated with warnings about radicals, immigrants, and other alleged threats to social order. As a journalist and cultural critic famous for his skepticism toward mass opinion and political moralizing, Mencken argued that politicians and their allies routinely magnify dangers to consolidate authority. The remark appears in an essay where he anatomizes the incentives of electoral politics: fear is a reliable tool for mobilizing voters and justifying expanded control, especially in moments of social anxiety and rapid change.

The quote claims that practical politics is less about solving problems than about managing public emotion—specifically, fear. By keeping “the populace alarmed,” leaders can present themselves as indispensable protectors and demand obedience, resources, or curtailed liberties in exchange for “safety.” Mencken’s “hobgoblins” metaphor suggests that many political threats are exaggerated, distorted, or invented, and that the cycle is “endless” because fear must be continually refreshed to remain effective. The line is a concise statement of Mencken’s broader critique of demagoguery and the ease with which democratic publics can be steered by panic rather than reason.

1) “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed … by an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
2) “The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed … by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”