Where’s Will when we need him?

My passport is due for renewal. I thought I would need my birth certificate but when I checked with the Post Office they told me that my prior passport and a picture ID would be all that was needed. Anytime I think of birth certificates I am reminded of Will Rogers. Anytime I think of Will, I also wish he was still here today to share some of his famous insights.

In a legendary scene from one of Will Rogers’ movies he has moved from his native Oklahoma to Hollywood. He visits the license bureau to get a drivers license, and is asked for his birth certificate. He pauses, and gives the person that deadpan “Will Rogers” stare. He then warily asks the office person, “What is a birth certificate?”

They reply, “It’s a document that proves you were born!” Rogers again pauses, rubs his chin, peers closely at the official and announces, “Back in the Indian Territory where I’m from, if they see you up walking around, they are pretty sure you’ve been born!”

In the entire history of the United States there has never been the equal of Will Rogers when it came to speaking the unvarnished truth in words and phrases that everyday citizens could understand. He was so popular and famous that most historians believe he could have been elected president if he had so desired.

When I see all the news coverage of today, the blogs and the social media posts, many of which appear to offer a lot of innuendos but not many facts to back them up I so wish Will was still around to make some sense of it all.

He once addressed similar thoughts as I am having when he said, “It isn’t what we don’t know that gives us trouble, its what we know that ain’t so!” Oh how true that rings today some eight decades later.

I find this to be especially true today because there is so little effort by the media and people themselves to not print or say something that they have not proved with evidence. It makes me wonder what Will would have thought about the term “fake news?” Just to be clear on that point, I find that both sides of the current political war going on in our country right now to be equally at fault. Neither side has the upper hand in offering unsubstantiated attacks.

I will use some of his other quotes in hopes that come clarity will prevail. “If you ever infected truth into politics you have no politics.” I think that just about sums up how many Americans still feel today. We all have the same basic belief that politicians tell us one thing to get our vote, then do mostly the opposite.

Rogers was a humorist by trade and he liked to poke at the establishment regularly. “I don’t make jokes, I just watch the government and report the facts.” I have so many friends of both political persuasions who are seemingly angry all the time at the other side. Whatever happened to the term “the loyal opposition?” That was how the party in power used to view the other side? A few good Rogers’ jokes would appear to be very needed these days.

Rogers had a unique, if a bit wry, way of looking at the issues of taxes, wealth, poverty and how the government should actually pursue a plan. “The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to the people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.”

I literally chuckled aloud when I read that comment. The political war over how to best ensure a level playing field in our country is ongoing. The wealthiest and smartest people always seem to succeed, while the poor always find ways to remain in status.

Recently there has been a lot of angst from politicians who feel they have been treated unfairly by comedians and talk show hosts. Guess what, Rogers had some thoughts on that about 80 years ago? “Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”

I have a thought on that subject. If you have decided to be a politician and you somehow get elected, then prepare yourself. There is another old adage, “if it’s too hot get out of the kitchen.” You want to be a politician then accept the ridicule that comes with the territory.

Rogers candidly addressed the inability of most people to gain knowledge. “There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves!”

There has been no respite from this political process in recent times. We begin our news coverage of the next election a couple of years in advance, then when it’s completed we begin all over again. It has in my mind become a business unto itself.

Will Rogers surmised his thought on this ides, “There is only one redeeming thing about this election. It will be over by sundown and let everybody pray that it’s not a tie, for we couldn’t’ go through this thing again.”

Sadly, there is no Will Rogers in our world today. He was like the movie title, “A Man For All Seasons.” He made fun of both sides equally.

If it comes down to a choice between humor and politics, I will always choose humor. Think about how much time you spend in blame mode. We are constantly given the wrongs of the other political side and it keeps one stirred up and unhappy. I think I can speak for Will on this, “it’s time for laughter!”