Some teachings from Dr. Thomas Sowell
“The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.”
What a better way to sum up this week’s political drama than to offer some astounding quotes from Professor Thomas Howell. All of the below comments are direct quotes.
- “Affordable” is another popular word that serves as a substitute for thought. To say that everyone is entitled to “affordable housing” is very different from saying that everyone should decide what kind of housing he or she can afford. Government programs to promote “affordable housing” are programs to allow some people to decide what housing they want and force other people-taxpayers, landlords, or whoever-to absorb a share of the cost of a decision that they had no voice in making.
- People who fail to meet the standards for anything from college admission to a mortgage loan are often said to have been denied “access” or opportunity. But equal access or equal opportunity is not the same as equal probability of success…. if everyone is allowed to apply for college admission, or for a mortgage, and all applications are judged by the same standards, then everyone has the same opportunity.
- Those blacks with less education and less job experience-the truly disadvantaged-have been falling further behind their white counterparts under affirmative action, during the same years when blacks with more education and job experience have been advancing economically, both absolutely and relative to their white counterparts.
- Amnesty is not some esoteric concept. It means that you are not going to be punished for breaking the law-and that simply brings laws into contempt. Denying citizenship is not a punishment because crossing the border illegally does not entitle you to citizenship. Providing a legal status short of citizenship is not punishment either.
- The Constitution cannot protect us and our freedoms as a self-governing people unless we protect the Constitution.
High Truths and Low Lies 