What political notion has dominated for decades that can not be refuted by reason. Example?

With this comment in mind I don't know much about marijuana, but I'm sure we should ban any use of it. Ban all Firearms! Ban the death penalty! Ban nuclear weapons!

I support patriotism and intelligence.

With this thought in mind we need to nationalize housing, transportation, goods and services and all citizens should share the resources and sources fairly and equally.  Any other directions is criminal.  To nationalize is to balance resources, as well as mind and body.

Where is the leadership?  The United States needs to take resources from private ownership and nationalize it in a planned economic distribution model.

Where is the leadership?  The United States needs a national housing project.  A housing project to be put force to securely and safely house every American citizen.  Everyone should be put under the same guidelines.  No excessiveness and no one left out.  This again would dramatically reduce crime and degradation.

Where is the leadership?  The United States needs a national transport system to replace the destructive automobile.  A system of trains should be deployed.  Light rail in the towns and cities, and heavy rail between the towns and cities. Solar panels, windmills, and hydroelectric facilities should be fitted out to energize these facilitated electric train vehicles.  This innovation will reduce crime, pollution, and advance social and moral forces.

Law abiding citizenry carry with them their belief in humanity. 
They bring with them, at all times, the belief that a reasonable solution is always attainable. They know a nonviolent alternative is there. Law abiding citizens have no use for firearms. Law abiding citizens believe in win/win solutions.

A true leader is guided by democratic principles of free and open debate.  What Mr. Commager alludes is that our elected personnel will always be a bunch of spoiled brats. I have to disagree, we will have a mature elected body in the future. What we need is real leadership.  Friend with sensitivity.

Mr. Twain is overall a interesting literary individual with a solid resume.  However, this comment is not very balanced.  Without institutions to reform, refine, change, develop the country, its just mainly a big heap of dirt.  Our officials are quite primitive due to our neglecting our responsibilities in improving our institutions.  People are solely and mainly our country. The institutions are urgently needed to shape the people into law abiding citizens.
Its not to far off to say a country is its institutions. Without positive institutional adjustment you will be left with no people.

Only criminals make use of firearms.

The sooner you drop your weapons the sooner you will pick up your wits.

What positive contribution can I do for my country?

Firearm are a no win circumstance.  It's the no win lose/lose incident.  Firearms ownership is so popular in this society individuals seem to be getting away with murder, literally, and claiming self defense.  This is a clear biased, partial, politically motivated psychosis that keeps the unjustified firearm mindset existing. Letting, the clearly fire-armed individual commit murder and letting them off scot free.  Firearms are a societal social  psychosis.

Its time to quit playing around like fools and disseminate real information to our offspring.

I notice the enemies of freedom also rev up the auto engines a lot also.  We need a good public transit system put on rails and electrically driven, generated with solar, wind, and hydro-electric sources.

Individuals with vision, reason, heart, strength, character have no use for firearms.

Individuals with firearms and their supporters/witnesses/alibi actively move through the territories looking for victims.  

An individual with no clue of right and wrong, which every firearm carrier displays, has no right to carry a firearm. Firearm individuals or their supporters cannot even carry on a reasonable conversation.  No educated person carries a firearm. 

The amendable characteristic of the constitution makes it possible to realize our mistakes.  Firearms and alcohol are a tumultuous mistake to be incorporated into our social arrangement and therefore with the amendment characteristic of our constitution this is to be reasonably realized and the forces of the constitutional process put forward to eliminate these diseases.

It is not necessary to make a record of criminals and the accompanying punishment.  The wrong and rights of  behavior must be explained to the community and an expression of consequences must be fully outlined and accompanying conduct reinforced. The community will follow through with the right path as long as a reasonable path is realized, understood, and popularized.  To paraphrase a famous verse in a pleasant little song: "we are the world, we are the adults."

Under God's adversary, mother nature; we will live free, for God is just another prison.

The friends of freedom offer a clear and beautiful path.

The United States must assume the leadership of the world as the most progressive nation state. The United States realizes the true nature of the nation state by her own title. The US will initiate and incorporate the UNITED across the globe and perform what must be done and that is the unification of all of the planet's territories under one national embodiment. One world, one nation.

Education, instead of the pseudo-education would be the course.