Will Rogers

     During a visit with my brother in Tulsa, we made a day trip to the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore, Oklahoma.  I had been there once before fifty-eight years ago when I was eleven. 

     Will Rogers was born November 4, 1879 in the Oklahoma Cherokee Nation by Claremore, Oklahoma. He was named Colonel William Penn Adair Rogers.  I see why he went by Will.  Will was proud of the fact he was 9/32 Cherokee.  Will grew up as a cowboy on the Okalahoma prairie.  Will died in a single engine plane crash by Point Barrow, Alaska on August 15, 1935.

     Will Rogers was one of America’s most popular entertainers of his time.  He was sometimes called the “Cowboy Philosopher.”  He was an entertainer and a humorist.  He was a motion picture star (71 films), radio personality, a syndicated newspaper columnist, and the author of six books and 4,000 articles. 

     Will experienced the roaring twenties and great depression in this country.  He was widely traveled and read several newspapers every day.  He was very interested in politics, but never ran for elected office. 

     Will first gained notoriety in the Ziegreld Follies doing rope tricks and making jokes about what he had read in the newspapers.   “I never met a man I didn’t like,” is one of Will most popular quotes and probably one of the reasons for his popularity. 

     Will loved to make fun of politicians and it was often not complimentary.  “A politician is just like a pickpocket.  It’s almost impossible to get one to reform.”  Today we still have politicians putting getting reelected before the good of the country in many cases.

     “If you ever injected truth into politics you have no politics.”  How many times do we hear lies, cover-ups, and untrue campaign ads that are considered okay because “It’s just politics.” 

     I love and agree with this one.  “Most people and actors appearing on stage have some writer to write their material.  Congress is good enough for me.  They have been writing my material for years.”  And another similar one is; “I don’t make jokes.  I just watch the government and report the facts.”  I have said that Saturday Night Live can’t compete with the news.

     “Be a politician – No training necessary.”  We seem to have been taking this to an extreme level. 

     “Once a man holds public office, he is absolutely no good for honest work”.  Not a real compliment. 

     “We cuss lawmakers, but I notice we’re always perfectly willing to share in any of the sums of money that they might distribute.”  And it is such a good way to buy votes with taxpayer money.

     We have to remember that Progressives were just getting started in the 1920s, when Will said; “What this country needs is more working men and fewer politicians.”  He obviously feared big government then.  What would he think today?

      “This country has gotten where it is in spite of politics, not by the aid of it.”  Sounds like Ronald Reagan’s, “Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem.”  When will we learn? 

     Politics has not changed a lot, but one thing that has changed is Will’s statement; “I am not a member of any organized party – I am a Democrat.”  This is certainly not true today.  The Democrats are highly organized and have government-funded organizations to recruit Democrat voters. Democrats support other Democrats regardless of incompetence, corruption, and cover-ups.  The Republicans, on the other hand, are fragmented with conservatives, moderates, libertarians, constitutionalists, and the tea party.  They can’t seem to agree on anything.  I am surprised they can ever win an election.

     Will Rogers made fun of both Democrats and Republicans.  “If by some divine act of providence we could get rid of both parties and hire some good men, like any other good business does, that would be sitting pretty.”  This is still true today.

     “A flock of Democrats will replace a mess of Republicans … it won’t mean a thing.  They will go in like all the rest of ‘em.  Go in on promises and come out on alibis.”  Sound familiar?

      Will described the Democratic Party as representing the worker and the Republican Party as representing the rich.  This was the perception of the time and may have been true at that time.  It is certainly not true today. 

     The Democrats do attempt to buy the welfare vote and do it quite well.  The Democrats also seem to control the lame stream media for some reason, which was not the case in Will’s life.  Today the super rich and major corporations buy and control as many or more Democratic politicians as Republican politicians.  Consequently, the Republican Party is not the party of the rich anymore, and, with the exception of unions, the Democratic Party is certainly not the party of the workingman any more.

     My concern is that neither political party seems to really represent the middle income working American, the small businessperson, or the entrepreneur.  These are the people that made this country great.  Are we trying to eliminate them?