The Political Humor of Will Rogers
By: Garry Gamber
Will Rogers was an amazing person and one of the wisest men of any generation. His accomplishments include being a champion lasso thrower, a performer on the Broadway stage, the star of 71 movies, a radio broadcaster, an author of six books, and a syndicated newspaper columnist. Will Rogers traveled around the world three times and befriended presidents, senators, prime ministers, and kings.
Will Rogers was famous for his simple, insightful humor and his ability to connect honestly with everyone he met. His comments about politics in general and the politics of his generation are among his most memorable. The following are some of the best Will Rogers political quotes.
• There’s no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.
• I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
• I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.
• On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter what it does.
• There is no more independence in politics than there is in jail.
• Things in our country run in spite of government, not by aid of it.
• If I studied all my life, I couldn’t think up half the number of funny things passed in one session of Congress.
• The country has come to feel the same when Congress is in session as when the baby gets hold of a hammer.
• Politics is applesauce.
• I bet after seeing us, George Washington would sue us for calling him “father.”
• Our Constitution protects aliens, drunks, and U.S. Senators.
• Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.
• Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.
• An economist’s guess is liable to be as good as anybody else’s.
• The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.
• We don’t seem to be able to check crime, so why not legalize it and then tax it out of business?
• Diplomacy is the art of saying “Nice doggie” until you can find a rock.
• The man with the best job in the country is the Vice President. All he has to do is get up every morning and say, “How’s the President?”
• If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?
• All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that’s an alibi for my ignorance.
Will Rogers was asked about the nature of his humorous remarks about politicians. “I have often said in answer to inquiries as to how I got away with kidding some of our public men, that it was because I liked all of them personally, and that if there was no malice in your heart there could be none in your gags, and I have always said I never met a man I didn’t like.”
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Garry Gamber is a public school teacher and entrepreneur. He writes articles about politics, real estate, health and nutrition, and internet dating services. He is the owner of http://www.TheDatingAdvisor.com and the founding station master for Good Politics Radio Alaska.