America used to mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Sure some of the opinions and images were exaggerated and we weren't as good as we thought we were. Most thought H. L. Mencken's deprecation of the people was humorous but not justifiable. Well, events and developments are beginning to strongly support Mencken's view.

Arnold Ahlert has a particularly devastating column that even Mencken might be proud of (although Mr. Ahlert is hardly as caustic);

Sorry conservatives, but self-inflicted Dim-Bulbism is the "new normal." It is the new normal for a media whose collective leg-tingling leaves them willfully oblivious to the corruption of this administration, as their non-coverage of serious scandals have shown. It is the new normal for the American electorate, the majority of which is now comprised of dumbed-down, self-absorbed semi-literate nitwits, their government keepers, and a cabal of crony capitalists, one of whom can apparently remain above persecution, even after his firm lost $1.5 billion of customer funds.

Ahlert puts into perspective what Mencken used to refer to as the "booboisie". Mencken coined the term in 1922 and it eventually made it into respected dictionaries then and now. It increasingly fits what is happening in America and should be a popular term except for its wierd spelling.

Mr. Ahlert uses "Dim-Bulbism," likely a near-perfect synonym for Mencken's more obscure term. To understand more of what Mencken and Ahlert meant, read Mr. Ahlert's column. Or better yet, pick up some of Mencken's work.

Let's home that Ahlert's term makes its way into popular usage.