Capital Letters
Epstein v. Rogers
In “Popular Insurrection on Property Rights” (November 2005), Richard Epstein references Will Rogers as saying that he “never found a government spending program he did not like.”
Is this the same Will Rogers whom I’ve always attributed with quotes such as “Thank God we don’t get all the government we pay for.” Or, “This country has gotten where it is in spite of politics; not because of it.” One of us has apparently missed the boat here . . . is it me?
—BILL ALLARD
Tacoma, WA
Richard Epstein replies:
Bill Allard is right to say “Gotcha” in defense of the great Will Rogers. Rogers did say that he never met a man he didn’t like, and I meant to say that Justice Stevens never found a taking that he didn’t like either. But some allusions get too complicated for their own good. I certainly did not intend to make Rogers into a defender of big government when there is ample evidence to the contrary. So Rogers is fully exonerated of all charges against him. It is a different story for Justice Stevens.
