Promises and Alibis

“It’s post-election and a lot of us are probably thinking that if we could just send the same bunch of men to Washington for the good of the nation and not for political reasons, we could have the most perfect government in the world.

“Lobbyists in Washington are reaping a harvest. A lobbyist is a person who is supposed to help a politician to make up his mind, not only help him but pay him. Republicans, as we have seen, take care of the big money, for big money takes care of them. It takes nerve to be a Democrat, but it takes money to be a Republican!

“Meanwhile, the difference between our rich and our poor grows greater every year. Our distribution of wealth is getting more uneven all the time.

“Except if a flock of Democrats suddenly replaced a mess of Republicans, it wouldn’t mean a thing. They would go in like all the rest of ‘em. Go in on promises and come out on alibis.

“Furthermore, if we didn’t have two parties in this country, we would all settle on the best men in this country and things would run fine. But as it is, we settle on the worst ones and then fight over ‘em.”

That’s my summary of the current situation in Washington, except the words aren’t mine. They are all quotes from Will Rogers made three-quarters of a century ago. So don’t feel too badly about our do-nothing Congress. Things may not be getting worse after all!