"Suppose you were an idiot.And suppose you were a Congressman.But I'm repeating myself"Mark Twain, a Biography = = = = ="A jay hasn't got any more principle than a Congressman. A jay will lie, a jay will steal, a jay will deceive, a jay will betray; and four times out of five, a jay will go back on his solemnest promise."--What Stumped the Blue Jay = = = = ="Shall we ever have a Congress, a majority of whose members are hopelessly insane? Probably not. But it is possible--unquestionably such a thing is possible."--Letter to sister 1869 = = = = =Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was a funny man. He was also a thoughtful man and very often a frustrated one, especially as he aged. Twain's humor, insight and frustration found regular expression in politics and its players. It would not be an exaggeration to suggest America's finest humorist despised the Machiavellian tendencies and lack of integrity which politicians of all parties displayed.Twain didn't reserve his commentary just for his fellow citizens. Even by today's standards, he was an extraordinarily well-traveled man who visited more than thirty countries in his seventy-five years. His natural curiosity took him from a youthful level of infatuation with monarchy and royalty to a strong antipathy to what is "surely the grotesquest (sic) of all the swindles ever invented by man - monarchy."His acerbic wit was especially reserved for Czar Alexander of Russia, and King Leopold of Belgium who presided over the deaths of an estimated ten million citizens of the Congo during a brutal colonial reign.It would be interesting to get the great man's perception of today's political environment. Sadly, he probably would not be surprised and his comment about "man" could quite likely simply reference today's politics and politicians - "Concerning the difference between man and the jackass: some observers hold that there isn't any. But this wrongs the jackass."