William F. Buckley summed up the role of conservatives with his classic line “standing athwart history yelling stop”. So Sowell isn’t exactly off the reservation with his comment.
But again, what’s most interesting about Sowell’s remarks isn’t so much what he said about conservatism, but that he selected the label libertarian as the best match for him. Presumably this was because libertarian core principles are closest to his own, and even though yes he does note that he disagrees with libertarianism on some issues. I do think it’s telling that he apparently agrees with libertarians on the drug issue, which for many conservatives is the bright line between conservatism and libertarianism.
That was cute the way you tried that, use abortion, and then the homosexual agenda.
Remember abortion?
That’s not exactly Sowell’s definition is it? Sowell said it meant conserving stuff. What stuff? Any stuff.
Are there any conservatives that believe in preserving everything just because it passes once? No. Buckley didn’t believe that either.
If you have a bad definition of conservativism, then it’s not accurate to say that one rejects what conservativism actually believes. This is really a ‘straw man’ on his part.
I love Sowell, but this isn’t really the best argument against his conservativism. It is a good argument against his libertarianism because he explicitly cites a substantive policy portion wherein he disagrees.