What would Will Rogers say about our times?

by David Grand
September 27, 2006

Seventy-one years ago last month he died in a plane crash in Alaska, silencing his voice but not his words, that saw humor in all things concerning mankind and which continue to endear him to millions of people around the world--truly a man of all seasons and of all times. Below are some of his observations on subjects of current interest that reveal his keen insights and wit.

Politics

• We soon forget campaign promises, which is what keeps our politicians in office.   
• Never blame a legislative body for not doing something. For it's when  they do something that they become dangerous.
• If we got a tenth of what was promised us in acceptance speeches at the national conventions, there wouldn't be any inducements to go to heaven.
• Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.
• Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.
• The more you observe politics, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other.
• If you ever interjected truth into politics, you'd have no politics.
• Nobody wants politicians calling 'em common people, especially not common people.
• I'm not member of any organized party; I'm a Democrat.

Government

• It's easy being a humorist when you've got the whole government working for you.
• Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.
• Things in our country run in spite of government, not by aid of it.
• The country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.
• Alexander Hamilton started the U.S. Treasury with nothing and that's the closest our country has ever been to being even.

Foreign Relations

• Our foreign dealings are an Open Book, generally a Check Book.
• Now, if there's one thing we do worse than any other nation, it's trying to manage somebody else's affairs.
• If we ever pass as a great nation, our tombstone should read: America died from a delusion that she had moral leadership in the world.

Wars

• The one good thing about wars is that it takes smarter men to figure out who loses 'em, than it does to start 'em.
• Can't say civilization don't advance, for in every war they kill you in new ways.