A Modern American Hero: Thomas Sowell

I've been hearing a lot over the past five or six years about Thomas Sowell. He was featured quite prominently in Clarence Thomas's autobiography, My Grandfather's Son. I've heard passages from his books and columns here and there and wondered about him, so I finally did a little reasearch and discovered that he is a modern American hero who has made a lot of thought-provoking statements over the years.

He is a veteran of the Korean War and a magna cum laude Harvard, Columbia, and University of Chicago economist (Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. respectively), but he had an impoverished childhood and dropped out of high school at 17. I've just placed his autobiography, A Personal Odyssey, on hold at the library to learn more about him. I think I failed to mention that he is also Black. He was one of the first politically conservative Blacks, which was even more unpopular during the Civil Rights battle than it is now. In his 20s he was an avowed Marxist, but in 1960 he became a true capitalist after observing the unintended negative consequences of a state-imposed minimum wage on Puerto Rican workers while doing an internship there.

Here are a few of the quotes I've found from Thomas Sowell. Some of them will really make you think:

Hopefully, he (Obama) may also leave the voters wiser, though sadder, after they learn from painful experience that you can't judge politicians by their rhetoric, or ignore their past because of your hopes for the future. Thomas Sowell

Capitalism knows only one color: that color is green; all else is necessarily subservient to it, hence, race, gender and ethnicity cannot be considered within it. Thomas Sowell

Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late. Thomas Sowell

If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism. Thomas Sowell

If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today. Thomas Sowell

It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it. Thomas Sowell

It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong. Thomas Sowell

It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance. Thomas Sowell

Liberalism is totalitarianism with a human face. Thomas Sowell

People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything. Thomas Sowell

People who have time on their hands will inevitably waste the time of people who have work to do. Thomas Sowell

Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it. Thomas Sowell

Talkers are usually more articulate than doers, since talk is their specialty. Thomas Sowell

The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think. The problem is that Johnny doesn't know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling. Thomas Sowell

There are only two ways of telling the complete truth - anonymously and posthumously. Thomas Sowell

Too much of what is called "education" is little more than an expensive isolation from reality. Thomas Sowell

What 'multiculturalism' boils down to is that you can praise any culture in the world except Western culture - and you cannot blame any culture in the world except Western culture. Thomas Sowell

What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don't like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don't expect freedom to survive very long. Thomas Sowell

Would you bet your paycheck on a weather forecast for tomorrow? If not, then why should this country bet billions on global warming predictions that have even less foundation? Thomas Sowell