Month: October 2025

The government Shutdown continues, so I am “shutting down” comments about the government.

Jennifer Rogers and I are proud to announce…(drum roll)… we wrote a new little book, “Common Horse Sense from Will Rogers: Seven Timeless Tips for Leaders (and Everyone Else).”

Jennifer is Will’s great-granddaughter. She lives in Claremore, Oklahoma (across the street from the Will Rogers Memorial Museum) and is dedicating her life to promoting the legacy of Will Rogers. We’ve been friends for many years.

The book is filled with stories by Will about his servant leadership, plus ones we wrote. Will was a comforter. He put on shows to raise money for victims of floods, drought, earthquakes and deadly fires. Before one show, he wrote, “They will get every cent that comes in, even if there is nobody there but my wife – who will have to pay to get in.” Of course, the show was a sellout.

If Will were alive today, he would be preparing to raise money for the hurricane victims in Jamaica. (Should Jennifer and I do a fund raiser while I’m in Claremore and Tulsa next weekend?)

Can you relate to this? Will said a person “learns by two things, one is reading and the other is associating with smarter people.” Will is known for “All I know is what I read in the newspaper.” Will read several papers to get different views, and humor for his shows.  He was friends with prominent leaders (smarter people) including Henry Ford, Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Prince of Wales, Gen. Billy Mitchell, and Charles Lindbergh. Who are you associating with in your community?

Will was an “Influencer” and “Thought Leader” before those terms were invented. He never held office or built a big business, yet he influenced presidents, comforted families and nations, and made the world laugh – on purpose. His syndicated newspaper columns (daily and weekly) were read by millions. He pushed for a pension for old folks (which became Social Security) and relief for the farmers (which led to the first Farm Bill). His unscripted radio show with a live audience on Sunday nights was the forerunner of our late-night TV shows. He developed techniques that professional speakers and comedians still use today.

Reminder: you don’t have to have a title, such as CEO, President, Principal, or Sales Manager, to be a leader. We wrote this book to give tips and ideas to serve others yourself.

You can order from “ShopWillRogers.com” for $4.95 each. If you are interested in a large number of books for gifts for family and/or business clients send me an email: .

This book is one of 37 “Life-Changing Classics” published by TremendousLeadership.com. They offer bulk sales.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

       “I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I didn’t like.”

COLUMBUS, Ohio: Well, I had better mention the elephant in the room (or donkey). On Saturday morning hundreds of thousands of Democrats across the country, including in Republican states, gathered to hold up signs, sing, and talk among themselves about how terrible the Trump Administration is.

From their standpoint, Democrats are convinced that Trump is a Fascist, like Mussolini in Italy, and a Nazi, like Hitler and his Gestapo. Trump will remove people he doesn’t like whether they are illegal immigrant criminals or ordinary citizens, cancel the 2028 election, and cause oceans to flood our coasts from burning coal and gas.

From the standpoint of Republicans, these Democrats are plumb nutty.       Instead of killing 6,000,000 Jews, Trump is working to end Hamas’ war against Jews. Republicans want to use our own natural resources instead of enriching China by sending them trillions of dollars for solar panels and windmill blades. And if you ask ‘em, most Republicans would offer a $100 bet that the election on Nov. 7, 2028 will not be canceled.

These “No King” celebrations are so popular I suggest they go ahead and schedule one for the last week in December. And maybe one on Easter weekend.

I’ll end this with a question: if Trump was a King, would 7 people out of 330,000,000 be able to shut down the entire federal government?

The Shutdown continues. Millions are being harmed, including government employees who are not being paid and anyone who is owed money by those unpaid employees. Others are hurt by decreased services.

Will Rogers wrote 93 years ago, “What the government has got to do is live as cheap as the people.” (DT #1990, Dec. 21, 1932) But Democrat Senators are demanding an extra $1.5 Trillion from taxpayers to end the Shutdown.

The main argument is on, who deserves healthcare subsidies and who does not? Democrats want to add more money and cover more people. Republicans say the extra subsidies added “temporarily” in 2021 because of Covid need to end on Dec. 31, and illegal immigrants should not receive free healthcare.

In the winter of 1935, New York City had a major snowstorm. Unfortunately, the men who were usually eager to plow and shovel snow didn’t show up to work. Will Rogers wrote, “When the impression gets around that people are being fed who won’t work, you will have an about-face on this relief situation. Nobody can kick on honest [people] deserving relief, and nobody can be blamed for kicking on relieving somebody when they won’t work. The governments and towns have got to find some way of telling them apart.” (DT #2650, Feb. 1, 1935)

Concerning illegal immigrants, many who came here years ago are more eager to work than our own native-born folks who, given a choice, prefer to live on relief. As a farm boy years ago, I can assure you we did “dirty jobs” that very few Americans want to do today. And there aren’t enough former farm kids to do that work.

         Historic quote by Will Rogers:

         “Now, [Congress] wouldn’t be so serious and particular if they only had to vote on what they thought was good for the majority of the people of the U.S. That would be a cinch.” WA #78, June 8, 1924

COLUMBUS, Ohio: Today is Columbus Day, Oct. 12. Yes, it got changed to a Monday. I’m sure if Columbus had known about our love for Monday holidays he would have delayed landing for 24 hours.

Many Americans, except for Italians, are against celebrating a man who never got closer than a hundred miles to our shores. He thought he discovered India, so naturally he figured the people already living there were Indians. Oddly, nobody bothered to ask the Seminoles or Cherokees or Iroquois.

You might guess that Will Rogers, a quarter-blood Cherokee, would not be thrilled that Christopher claimed he discovered America. “Being an Indian, I don’t mind telling you personally I am sorry he ever found it. The discovery has been of no material benefit to us, outside of losing all the land. And I am proud to say that I have never yet seen a statue in Oklahoma to him.” (WA #190, Aug. 1, 1926)

In California, Will had a unique angle on Columbus Day, “The Columbus Celebration has rather an added significance to Los Angeles, as they want to celebrate the good fortune of his landing on the Atlantic instead of the Pacific side, because if he had landed out here, he never would have gone back to tell the Queen. He would have stayed right here and nobody would have ever known it but him.” (WA #49, Nov. 18, 1923)

In Ohio, I’m not sure I should admit I live in the Columbus area (Hilliard). We had a big statue of Columbus, but a couple of years ago folks claiming to represent Native Americans forced the mayor to remove it. Then they ran the Indians out of Cleveland.

The partial government Shutdown continues with Senators arguing over subsidies for health insurance. Most of us have no idea how much our doctors and hospitals cost because it’s free or we only pay about 10% to 20% of the bill. We need every bit of our modern medicine and nobody appreciates it more than me (or Will Rogers, who survived serious gall bladder surgery in 1927).

On Sept. 30, Republicans asked the Democrats to continue the same budget for 7 weeks. Two weeks later, if this Shutdown goes the full 7 weeks, we’ll all be headed to our doctor’s office because we’ll be sick of Congress.

In Israel and Gaza, it seems the Hamas terrorists will release the remaining hostages, including bodies of the dead. Not sure how the rest of the negotiations will pan out. The million or so Gaza civilians should be provided shelter and food. The Hamas terrorists should lay down their guns and be given scoop shovels and ordered to fill in the miles of tunnels they spent 20 years digging. The pro-Hamas protesters at our colleges should take a year off and go help with the shoveling.

Let me add two personal notes. In Los Angeles the police arrested an arsonist who set the fire that destroyed most of Pacific Palisades, including the house and barn at the Will Rogers Historic State Park.

The arrest surprised government leaders who blamed the fire on climate change. If they had cleared dry brush from the land instead of passing laws to prevent clearing, the fire would have probably caused only minor damage.

Also, a good friend is now in the Guinness World Record Book. Deborah Gardner of Peoria, Arizona, swam the 21 miles from Catalina Island to the California coast. Yes, hundreds of swimmers have done that. But Deborah is the only 66-year-old woman to do it. The previous record holder was a month younger and held the record for 9 years. She is probably congratulating Deborah and has no plans to go through the rigorous year-long training needed to reclaim the record.

Will Rogers commented on women swimming the English Channel.          “Another American woman just now swam in from France. Her husband was carried from the boat suffering from cold and exposure. She has two children, the smallest a girl, who is swimming over tomorrow.” (DT #27, Aug. 28, 1926)

Some folks are saying I’ve been too hard on Democrats lately. I’ll lighten up a bit because they are underdogs in Washington and having a tough time scoring on Republicans. I’ll overlook Zohran Mamdani in New York City; he doesn’t qualify as a true Democrat.

Senator Schumer of New York is putting up a courageous battle. He has to not only beat Republicans but hold off Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Senator Schumer and other Democrats are putting up quite a fight over the Covid pandemic subsidy for health insurance. They want to continue the 4-year temporary subsidy for 10 more years. Twenty-four million citizens are suffering because the transitory inflation added 20 percent to the cost of everything in 4 years. Now, there’s two words, “temporary” and “transitory,” that no politician ever found in Webster’s.

Can’t blame ‘em because a hundred economists assigned to count the number of new jobs every month were off by 900,000 over the past year. That’s 900,000 extra Americans without a job who still get sick once in a while. Add the 10,000,000 illegal immigrants after Covid and you end up with over-worked doctors and nurses, especially in sanctuary cities. Those cities and a few states need all the money they can claw out of Washington.

In Chicago, Mayor Brandon and Governor Pritzker told the federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement that they are on their own. The Chicago police have been de-funded to the point they can’t spare even a half-dozen on bicycles to help out. So, if you live in Chicago, and you don’t want to get shot, the safest place may be in the middle of the gang of protesters confronting ICE agents. Yes, those modern “G-men” are armed. But they know that the mayor and governor want them to shoot a couple of “free speech” protesters. That would be insignificant compared to the dozens that get shot every week. But it would boost the “Pritzker for President” campaign even more than losing 75 pounds.

Democrat office holders may not like ICE. But let me tell you who would have liked ICE. About 135 years ago the Cherokees, Seminoles, Osage and the other tribes in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) would have welcomed ICE to arrest and remove “intruders.” Back then thousands of white men, including armed criminals, from Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas illegally entered and settled in Indian Territory, stealing land, water, timber, and other resources. Residents implored the U.S. government to help. But Congress sided with the Intruders who entered illegally, much “sooner” than would be allowed after 1900.

Yes, before Jim Thorpe ever touched a football, the Intruders were the original Oklahoma Sooners.

Historic quote by Will Rogers:

“Senators are a never-ending source of amusement, amazement, and discouragement.” WA #345, Aug. 4, 1929

(I attempt to write with Will Rogers’ style, poking fun and reflecting on current issues. And I present nationally as a Will Rogers impersonator, sharing quotes and stories (mostly non-political) from Will’s widely popular talks and newspaper columns from the 1920s and 1930s, customized for the audience. My website includes “Quotes” in categories which give a hint to the variety of groups that like “Will Rogers.” As my business card reads: Hire me before I die… again. )

Randall Reeder
WillRogersToday (dot) com     614-477-0439