Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Sowell: Last Chance for America? Part II
Creators Syndicate ^ | March 2, 2016 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 03/02/2016 7:45:45 PM PST by jazusamo

The worst political blunder of all time, according to scientist Freeman Dyson, was the decision of the emperor of China in 1433 to cut off his country from the outside world. In the wake of that decision, China lost its position in the forefront of human achievements and fell behind, over the centuries, to become a Third World country.

Before the end of this month, the United States of America may break that record for the worst political blunder of all time. Professor Dyson attributed the Chinese emperor's blunder to "powerful people pursuing partisan squabbles and neglecting the long-range interests of the empire." That can be our path to disaster as well.

After the results of "Super Tuesday," we find ourselves with front-runners in their respective parties who each could, as President of the United States, take the decline of America under the Obama administration, even further down, to a point of no return.

As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton was in charge of the foreign policy that destroyed governments in Egypt and Libya that were no threat to America's interests or allies, and plunged both countries into a turmoil from which only Egypt managed to rescue itself, while Libya has become another hotbed of terrorist activity.

Yet Secretary Clinton is running on her "experience" — even though it is an experience of unmitigated disasters for America, around the world. Her e-mail scandals and lies are important mainly as symptoms of her utter disregard of anything other than her own financial and political interests.

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016election; hillary; sowell; stupidparty; thomassowell; trump; trumpbaggage; trumpershatesowell
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-89 next last
To: jazusamo

Why? Because, despite Trump’s reckless rhetoric and shallow reasoning, he is a deal-maker who will not let principles stand in the way of anything that promotes the ego of Donald Trump.>>> my how such a great thinker and i like sowel, now is readiing the mind of another person. Is Thomas losing rationality. and was the squable in china the building of the wall. i guess it was. so china builds a wall to keep the creaps out and proceeds to build an incredible civilization. tom you used to write about these.


41 posted on 03/02/2016 9:06:21 PM PST by kvanbrunt2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PrairieLady2
You'd probably be interested in reading this then, from PNAC, “Project for the New America”... http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

More lowdown on this corrupt organization here, just follow the dots to the R&D establishment elites... http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_for_the_New_American_Century

42 posted on 03/02/2016 9:11:09 PM PST by patlin ("Knowledge is a powerful source that is - 2nd to none but God" ConstitutionallySpeaking 2011)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: DB

I admit how old I was exactly back then is now a little foggy and could be plus/minus a year.

You?>>> very cool smack down i wish i had done that i was an ace in math in high school and never did the homework until threatened by the teacher. went to bible college instead and then in 1980. did my dream i was 4.0 at DCCC (comunity college taught by phi beta kappa prof) in pa when i relearned algebra to go to engineering school. learnt computers and went that route.


43 posted on 03/02/2016 9:11:56 PM PST by kvanbrunt2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Tzimisce

“But for decades this nation has been sliding down the crapper while Sowell and the Republican elite have ****DONE NOTHING****.

There you go. We had a chance with Reagan and we didn’t disband the unconditional Dept. of Indoctrination——it was a BIG mistake to allow our children to be destroyed by Leftists. We didn’t get rid of the “progressive” Marxist tax system and the money laundering foundations-—systems which just fund the takeover of judges/our courts/our textbook industries, etc.

But—the worst thing-—is we allowed Virtue and Right Reason to be eliminated from “Just Laws” which makes them Evil Laws (and unconstitutional.). Cicero noted that once Just Laws are evil—promote vice, theft, and punish virtue-—it will collapse the culture.


44 posted on 03/02/2016 9:39:58 PM PST by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: jazusamo

It was my understanding (granted it has been many years since sociology 101, and that before political correctness developed its stranglehold on higher education) that the reason China declined from its high level of science, technology, liberal arts, etc., was not because of the wall, the wall had little to do with it. Indeed the wall was the result of their great wealth, perseverance, and engineering capabilities. China fell because of the decline of their great monotheistic faith, replaced first with ancestor worship which then became a sort of polytheism and concomitant rise in superstition with the practice of immoral and barbaric behaviors such as slavery, homosexuality, pederasty, polygamy, drug abuse, and infanticide. As well, with this moral decline and growth of superstition, came the inability to observe and think objectively, which ultimately led to the scientific and economic stagnation of their great civilization. And as the Chinese people slid into this moral decline, with every aspect of their daily lives dominated by fearful superstition, and with no firm moral code to guide them, eventually the nation fell like rotten fruit. And so will we, if we forget the God who made us and fail to keep His great moral law. Anyway, that it is what I remember of what I was taught.


45 posted on 03/02/2016 9:42:40 PM PST by erkelly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kvanbrunt2

You and DB are awesome. I admire engineers and acknowledge the discipline. Very few people, like 3%, can do Calculus differentials.

Bragging. My father who worked on the Navaho. Yes, the 1954 group of twenty engineers from North American/Rockwell with slide rules who worked on the Navaho and who then triggered the space industry. It started with twenty and blossomed into the Mercury, Apollo, Space Shuttle and then the semi conductor industry.

I was studying philosophy at Berkeley in 1995 and kick myself for not buying Apple stock then, not learning code and not making field trips to Cupertino and looking for ways to be helpful.


46 posted on 03/02/2016 9:43:40 PM PST by Falconspeed ("Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: DB

You are exactly right.

Too many johnny-come-lately’s immagine anyone who disagrees with them are ignorant fools.

When I read something by Thomas Sowell that I disagree with, I stop and check myself and question whether I am the ignorant fool. Thomas Sowell has been the stalwart of conservative thought for many, many years. He is not infallible, but this ridiculous throwing everyone under the bus who does not see it my way is insane.


47 posted on 03/02/2016 9:45:41 PM PST by unlearner (RIP America, 7/4/1776 - 6/26/2015, "Only God can judge us now." - Claus Von Stauffenberg / Valkyrie)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: jazusamo

This piece had NO point. He didn’t say anything.


48 posted on 03/02/2016 10:01:31 PM PST by Marie (The vulgarians are at the gate! MAGA!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: patlin

You have put together some detailed info on the TPP issue. While I do not agree with some of your opinions, I will admit that I have not fully formed my views on how a conservative, such as myself, should look at globalism.

There are certain opinions I hold in this area which, like your own, do not go along with the status quo. However, I fail to see this issue as being very relevant in the current election because it appears to me that everyone running could be categorized as a globalist.

Do you feel other candidates have a better or more conservative approach on this issue? And why?


49 posted on 03/02/2016 10:04:15 PM PST by unlearner (RIP America, 7/4/1776 - 6/26/2015, "Only God can judge us now." - Claus Von Stauffenberg / Valkyrie)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: patlin

Thinking about what you said, I ask, how do nations benefit from trade? By skimming something off of the top, I would guess. If it is possible for a nation to subsidize the cost of a good being sold, and still profit when the good is sold, is this not the key to economic prosperity? All we need is more subsidies and taxes? Isn’t reality a bit different?


50 posted on 03/02/2016 10:15:56 PM PST by Mark was here ("The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam" - Obama.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: patlin

Well, that’s the central disagreement right there. The free trade doctrine considers trade to be a free exchange between individual actors.

The other point of view is the collectivist perspective, seeing “trade” as something that happens between states, or as you phrase it, nations.

That’s just one of the reasons that the movement conservatives like Sowell and Levin are cool, to say the least, about Trump.


51 posted on 03/02/2016 10:33:25 PM PST by absalom01 (You should do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, and you should never wish to do less.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: patlin

Thank you for your thoughtful and well documented post. I enjoyed reading the words that I myself have spoken, perhaps not in as clear a manner but nonetheless we share the obvious points.

IMHO, Rafael Cruz is playing the long game and his wife for what ever reason, perhaps even love, but I doubt it, has joined with him in what I feel is a very dangerous game. The illusion that he and his wife are “conservative” and have such a high regard for the constitution does not resonate with me and I believe that he has demonstrated openly, to my view, that he is a poser. The Mercer, Beck and Goldman Sachs alliance can only mean one thing; Globalist.

A long look at the father, his heritage and religious wantings and the suspicious loyalty of the mother to her son expressed always with a side glance to see if something or someone sinister is observing her, is, well, disconcerting.

Is it possible that GS cleverly put Heidi together with Rafael with ol man Bush’s blessing? Rafael does not appear to be an attractive option for a little blonde girl born and raised in America, so was it a contrived long game?

I believe and used the word Globalist to describe the downfall of the “middle class”; we are the middle class.

I don’t like it one bit, what say you?


52 posted on 03/02/2016 11:28:31 PM PST by UncleSam (Why must someone else always make the final decisions?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: randita
Some of the most influential and admired conservative voices of the past 25 years are throwing up red flags all over the place regarding Trump.

Trump supporters are throwing them all under the bus without a second thought.


I support the Trump candidacy, but I don't have a single bad word to say about Dr. Sowell. The guy is and always has been awesome. Wish we had 10,000 more like him. He doesn't deserve to be bad-mouthed, period.

The problem is that emotions are running high because conservatives and even not-so-conservatives believe, quite rightly, that our country has turned down a very strange road and if we don't do something now we're lost forever. The explosions of bitterness and anger at the old stalwarts of the Right are because those stalwarts of the Right LET US GET HERE. They let us turn down that road. Sure, people like Rush and Levin bloviated on the radio, and others wrote fancy-worded articles, but nobody actually DID anything. Sure, we can't expect Rush and Sowell to have saved the country by themselves, but we've been witnessing the slow-motion train wreck of this country for decades now and all the issues that are at the forefront now were issues ten years ago, but neither Rush nor Sowell, nor anyone else bothered to address them. Instead, it was always columns and radio rants against the outrage du jour, with the "conservatives" barking and chasing after every shiny bauble that the Left threw out onto the floor.

Then along comes Trump. He says, straight out, all the things that Average Joe has been thinking for years: close the border, stop driving our industries offshore, admit that Islam is a threat, etc. Suddenly, Average Joe sees a politician in the forefront actually addressing issues that matter, only to find that the politicians and pundits that he trusted to be guardians of his interests not only aren't fully supporting this new politician, but they are actively opposing him precisely because of the position he is taking on those issues.

The implications of this are that these respected people on the right have ignored the issues most dear to Average Joe and are now attacking the one guy who is addressing those issues. Truth be told, however, they are doing the same to Cruz. Who are the two guys calling out the system and pledging to change it? Trump and Cruz. Who are the guys that every pundit on the Right hates? Trump, and to a lesser extent, Cruz. That's betrayal, and betrayal is one of the most anger-provoking things a person can experience. People can respect an enemy, but everybody hates a traitor.

Now, is Sowell supporting Cruz over Trump? We don't know because he doesn't say - he just simply seems to not like Trump. If Sowell were to come out as a Cruz supporter, perhaps the vitriol would be less. But what if Sowell endorsed, say, Rubio, or Jeb? Wouldn't the anger against him be justified? Wouldn't the betrayal be complete? Because, in essence, support for those candidates would be tantamount to saying: "Let's try the same old sh*t we've done for the last few decades, with the same old people." People want the current system changed, NOW. They want the applecart overturned, the apples stomped on, and the apple cart pusher tarred and feathered. Argue for the same ol', same ol', and receive the wrath of the betrayed.
53 posted on 03/03/2016 12:01:13 AM PST by fr_freak
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: fr_freak

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/02/sowell_makes_his_presidential_endorsement.html


54 posted on 03/03/2016 3:48:21 AM PST by pookie18 (9 months until the general election...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: fr_freak

I hear you and thank you for writing a well reasoned analysis - something that’s increasing becoming rare around here.

Trump seems to me like a toss of the dice. Everyone gets to a point where they don’t see a way forward without taking a big risk.

I’m just not there yet.


55 posted on 03/03/2016 6:06:22 AM PST by randita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: randita

[Some of the most influential and admired conservative voices of the past 25 years are throwing up red flags all over the place regarding Trump.

Trump supporters are throwing them all under the bus without a second thought.

Strange stuff going on here.]

Yep!

Many of the newer sign-ups especially seem to hate conservative voices with a passion. Others just go along with the herd. Anyone who doesn’t follow the Trump herd is demonized and dismissed. It’s ridiculous.


56 posted on 03/03/2016 6:45:41 AM PST by KansasGirl (I'm voting for Ted Cruz on Mar. 5!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: pollywog
Thomas Sowell understands a LOT MORE that Trump will know in his lifetime. He is a man very highly respected.

There are some very unfreeper like people supporting Trump and attacking anything they don't agree with.

It gives me pause.
Thank you for the post polly.

57 posted on 03/03/2016 7:21:55 AM PST by oldbrowser (The republican party is the voters, not the politicians.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: jazusamo; DoughtyOne; abigail2; Amalie; American Quilter; arthurus; awelliott; Bahbah; bamahead; ...

Trump is the ONLY candidate who isn’t in somebody’s back pocket. Sadly, even Cruz is in the Wall Street pocket. In a way, I feel sorry for him, as he needed money, but if you sell your soul for money, maybe you should think about how virtuous you really are....

Cruz (R, Goldman Sachs)

TPA

No deportations

= NO sale!


58 posted on 03/03/2016 7:29:44 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) since Nov 2014 (GOPe is that easy to read))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: absalom01
free trade doctrine considers trade to be a free exchange

Trade is a consequence of capitalism, there is nothing ‘free’ about it, there are costs involved in any trade. Article 1 of the Constitution gives Congress the authority to re-coop the costs incurred by our government from the privilege of giving a foreign nation the ability to bring their products to our nation to sell. Right now, all these other nations expect us to absorb all the costs of trading with them, including the cost incurred in their foreign nation and these foreign nations do it by way of tariffs charged on every US item sold in their country.

When American companies leave the US and set up camp in one of these one-sided trade deal countries, America looses.

“Free trade” is a socialist/communist doctrine. Our founding fathers wrote & ratified a Constitution based upon a biblical “fair trade” doctrine. They were not against taxes. These men knew their bibles and the Word of God explicitly says that by the authority of God, the nations have a due diligence to collect taxes in the way of duties, tolls, and excises, so to support itself.

And there you have it, NOTHING is ever free, unless you like socialism/communism and even then it is not free, it most often costs you your morals, values & life.

59 posted on 03/03/2016 7:55:56 AM PST by patlin ("Knowledge is a powerful source that is - 2nd to none but God" ConstitutionallySpeaking 2011)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Lurkinanloomin
The Constitution was violated with the complicity of both parties.

^^This^^

For three successive presidential elections this violation has been pushed upon US with no popular descent, standing or legal options to redress allowed until Trump challenged them.

60 posted on 03/03/2016 8:00:01 AM PST by GBA (Here in the matrix, life is but a dream.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-89 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson