It's reputed that Karl Marx himself said, "I am not a Marxist." By that he meant that his theories were misunderstood by those calling themselves Marxists. But who could blame them? Five thousand pages of German economics? I'd rather shave my genitals with a cheese grater while chewing on tin foil.
I haven't read Sowell. I stick to the classics, left and right.
My fear at this point, and I don't think it's unfounded, is that we're getting close to the point where a populist demagogue makes an entrance. There's plenty of fuel and fear for the fire.