#1. “Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.”
#2. Summershine Patriots
“The modern patriotism, the true patriotism, the only rational patriotism is loyalty to the nation all the time, loyalty to the government when it deserves it.”
Some studies postulate that only perhaps 1/3 of the colonists actually actively supported the American Revolution in 1776. It was stated by Judge Andrew Napolitano that approximately 1/3 of the colonists supported it, 1/3 opposed it, and 1/3 were indifferent. After the Revolution however, everyone was an American patriot. Supporting the American cause was the right thing to do at the time. But what about when that government was in the wrong? When would you say was a time when it didn’t make sense to support the government, even if you supported the country?
#3. Congressional Scalawags
“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”
#4. Who’s The Boss?
“Government is merely a servant – merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.”
#5. Oh, the Tax Man
“The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.”
#6. Citizens vs. Civilians
“Citizenship is what makes a republic; monarchies can get along without it.”
Twain understood that, even though we had a constitution, that it was up to the people to protect their liberties. People should strive to take up citizenship, and not just be civilians who don’t give back to their communities. When people don’t step in to solve the problems of society, others will vote in tyrants to take care of it for them.
#7. Twain on Communism
“Communism is idiocy. They want to divide up the property. Suppose they did it — it requires brains to keep money as well as make it. In a precious little while the money would be back in the former owner’s hands and the communist would be poor again.” Mark Twain, A Biography
Wow! There’s no room to wiggle in that statement. Twain sounds like a Ronald Reagan before Ronald Reagan was Ronald Reagan. Am I right? Amirite? Amirite or amirite or amirite? Right? Right!
#8. Crazy Today, Conservative Tomorrow
“The radical of one century is the conservative of the next. The radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them.”
– Notebook, 1898
Twain rightly observed that as opinions and attitudes change, things that once sounded like crazy ideas will become mainstream. The heretic you burned at the stake for their paranoid rantings about the earth revolving around the sun, might be who they teach in the history books centuries later.
#9. On the economy
It isn’t the sum you get, it’s how much you can buy with it, that’s the important thing; and it’s that that tells whether your wages are high in fact or only high in name.
– A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Twain understood full well what monetary policy could do to the savings and currency of a people. Sure you can have a lot of paper money, but what can you buy with it? The Germans of the failed Weimar Republic learned that lesson well, when their economy collapsed and they used money as wallpaper.
#10. On the “privilege” of free speech
As an active privilege, it ranks with the privilege of committing murder; we may exercise it if we are willing to take the consequences.
– “The Privilege of the Grave,” published in Who is Mark Twain?
Twain reminds us that we aren’t immune to the consequences of our actions. Yes, we can do something, or say something, but that doesn’t mean you should. And if you do act, you must be prepared to deal with the fallout. Personal responsibility at its finest.