[oblomov]

Kommodor was thinking of Joseph de Maistre:

Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle mérite.

Trans.: Every nation gets the government it deserves.

Letter 76, on the topic of Russia’s new constitutional laws (27 August 1811); published in Lettres et Opuscules. The English translation has several variations, including “Every country has the government it deserves” and “In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve.” The quote is popularly misattributed to better-known commentators such as Alexis de Tocqueville and Abraham Lincoln.

https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_de_Maistre

[Dr.Deth]

That may be so, but Mencken makes me chuckle.