Comments on: The Tragedy of the Unconstrained Vision

By: Perfecting Man, the Impossible Dream – Black Shards, In Your Eyes, Blinding

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:05:56 +0000

[...] Sowell thinks the difference between conservatives and liberals has to do with their views about the perfectability of man. Sowell argues that when it comes to the [...]

By: Thunderb

Thunderb — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:56:30 +0000

I have two children with learning disabilities (I call them learning differences), one of them gifted. I first read Dr. Sowell when he wrote a little book called "Late Talking Children" about his experiences with his own son. The point of the book was that as parents we should be very careful before we let the medical, therapudic and teaching communities label these little poeple and inhibit their futures. Of course this little book lead me to his others. The man is brilliant.

By: PaleKevinMcHale

PaleKevinMcHale — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:28:36 +0000

Thomas Sowell is brilliant. Eloquent but not condescending, insightful but not overblown. His Basic Economics is a great read.

By: Bugs

Bugs — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:06:56 +0000

@Edski – Not sure about that characterization. The people who roll up their sleeves and "work on it" are, I think, the ones who believe in "solutions." If we all just "work on it," they maintain, we can "solve" world hunger, income inequality, war, gender inequality, racial inequality, global warming, male pattern baldness, etc. They believe they are working on behalf of those whom they believe want the government to rescue them from the chaos – but they very seldom ask exactly what the recipients of their concern actually want or need. But they expect someday to be finished – to finally have everything arranged so that A never has more than B and nobody ever suffers needlessly. That's idealism.

I think the other side observes the chaos and thinks, "How can we adapt to this chaos? How can we survive, prosper, raise families, build a civilization, in spite of this chaos?" They don't expect the bad stuff to go away, ever. They don't expect the job to ever be finished. They best they hope for is to minimize the chaos and maximize whatever benefits can be found in the situation. That's realism.

By: RonaldWR

RonaldWR — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:03:20 +0000

One great mind honoring another great mind. Either way you can't go wrong.

By: BlackConeSilnce

BlackConeSilnce — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:42:26 +0000

Bill Whittle and Thomas Sowell are epic. I wish I had something better to say, but it's all I got in my tank.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:36:33 +0000

Nancy Pearcy wrote a great book on "world views" called "Total Truth". Similar to what Sowell discusses. Does a good job explaining Marxism as a world view.

By: aharris

aharris — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:12:12 +0000

I've got both "The Quest For Cosmic Justice" and "Black Rednecks and White Liberals." I eagerly read Sowell's columns and think he should be put up to be Sec. of the Treasury, maybe let him work with Romney. Romney has run large financial endevours and Sowell knows economics and can make them accessible. Imagine every lame Timmy G. speech or answer you've ever heard and then imagine Sowell making it instead. I regularly keep Sowell on my Christmas list of books so that I can expand my collection.

By: denise

denise — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:03:16 +0000

Try "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" by Sowell. For those of us so tired of being labeled racist and our black friends who don't think we are.

By: Gomez

Gomez — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:13:16 +0000

I like richb313's reference to Star Trek. I call it the "Roddenberrily Correct" vision of the future – a future in which all humanity's problems have been solved, no one has to actually "work" for a living, everyone's needs are met (somehow), and each individual just lives for personal fulfillment. Unfortunately, they never really explored how the vision came about. There were some vague references to a horrendous past of wars, plagues, and dictatorships, after which humanity supposedly came to its senses, repented its barbaric ways, and built a perfect society. But the actual details of the building process are never mentioned. We don't know whose property got confiscated, who got sent to reeducation camp or exiled, or who got stood up against the wall and shot – as people (real people) inevitably are when Utopia is a-building. In Roddenberry's nicey-nice future, people just came together as one and did it. It's so simple, after all. Why can't we do it today? Must be the Republicans' fault…