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Thomas Sowell: Who Cares About Facts Any More?
Creator's Syndicate ^ | June 8, 2006 | Dr. Thomas Sowell

Posted on 06/08/2006 3:27:15 AM PDT by RWR8189

Each year about this time, some parents write in to ask for suggestions of things for their children to read during the summer, in order to counteract the steady diet of liberal-left indoctrination they have been getting in schools and colleges.

This year there is a new book that is almost tailor-made for that purpose. Its title is "Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies" by Gregory Jackson. In it, all sorts of political and media spin are shot to pieces by hard facts.

If you think that the Constitution of the United States provides for "separation of church and state," that George W. Bush is not as smart as either Al Gore or John Kerry, or that the big-money donors to political campaigns give more to the Republicans than to the Democrats, this book provides documented facts showing the opposite.

The book goes literally from A to Z, with 26 chapters covering subjects from abortion to zealots who are terrorists.

Some of the facts cited are historical facts and some are statistical. Among the historical facts is that there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution about a "separation of church and state," despite how often that phrase has been repeated in the media, in politics, and even in courts of law.

Over the years, liberal judges have twisted the First Amendment's phrase about "free exercise of religion" to mean the opposite -- that you are not free to exercise your religion if atheists or members of non-Christian religions say that they are offended.

Whatever the best social policy might be as regards Christmas displays or the use of vouchers in parochial schools, none of this is banned by the Constitution. Some judges, however, use the Constitution as a blank check, authorizing them to ban whatever they don't like and call it Constitutional law.

President Bush, like Ronald Reagan before him and innumerable others who are out of favor among liberals, has repeatedly been depicted as such a mental lightweight that he is not in the same league with brilliant guys like Al Gore and John Kerry.

The fact is that George W. Bush and John Kerry both went to Yale, where Bush had a higher grade-point average. Bush also scored higher than Kerry on intelligence tests that both took in the military. Gore went to Harvard, where he finished in the bottom fifth of his class two years in a row.

Grades and test scores are not everything. But they are something -- and those who are convinced that their guys are way smarter have no hard facts at all to back up this widely and fervently believed notion.

The cold fact is that anyone who spouts the liberal line is likely to be depicted as sophisticated, if not brilliant, and anyone who opposes it is likely to be considered dull, if not stupid, in the liberal media.

The grand political fallacy of the age is that the Republicans are the party of wealth, while the Democrats are the party of compassion for the little guy. This is something that has been assumed and repeated so often that it has become a "well-known fact" without any hard evidence being asked for or given.

In the 2000 elections, the counties that voted for Bush had a smaller percentage of their population with annual incomes over $100,000 than the counties that voted for Gore. The Bush counties also had a higher percentage of their population earning under $30,000 a year.

It has become axiomatic in the liberal media that big-money donors give most of that big money to the Republicans. But the hard data show that the top ten donors to political campaigns gave far more to the Democrats, with the lone exception being the National Association of Realtors, who gave 50 percent to the Democrats and 49 percent to the Republicans.

"Racism" is the trump card in the indictment of Republicans. But the cold fact is that the whole Jim Crow era in the South was dominated by Democrats. A higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats voted for civil rights legislation.

Bill Clinton's cabinet consisted overwhelmingly of white males while Bush's cabinet has been the most ethnically diverse in history.

But who cares about facts any more?

 

Copyright 2006 Creators Syndicate



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: liberalism; lies; sowell; summerreading; thomassowell

1 posted on 06/08/2006 3:27:21 AM PDT by RWR8189
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To: RWR8189
Sowell is fantastic.

But why does he say this:

Gore went to Harvard, where he finished in the bottom fifth of his class two years in a row.

And neglect to point out that Bush has an MBA from Harvard? That's not chopped liver.

2 posted on 06/08/2006 3:50:02 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Without a monkey, "You are nothing, absolutely zero. Absolutely nothing.")
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To: RWR8189

It sounds like a great book, and Sowell hits ANOTHER Home Run. But as to arguing with liberal lies -- what good does that do. They've got a million of 'em. Knock one down, they're back with two more. It must be quite liberating to be freed from the facts. Sticking to the truth is so confining.


3 posted on 06/08/2006 3:51:56 AM PDT by 9999lakes
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To: RWR8189

As always Thomas Sowell on point.


4 posted on 06/08/2006 3:53:01 AM PDT by Bubba M. Aurelius
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To: ClearCase_guy

Sorry, I disagree. What do you imagine H. G. Rickover might have said about MBAs? MBAs are a commodity just as is chicken-liver and a Havard MBA is analogous to pate foie gras, expensive chopped liver.

And Bush is merely a commodity, bought and sold by the GOP as they pander to d' masses, the mediocre middle, demotic democracy.


5 posted on 06/08/2006 4:13:13 AM PDT by dhuffman@awod.com (The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.)
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To: RWR8189

Which is worse, Liberal lies or your own party being deaf?


6 posted on 06/08/2006 4:36:36 AM PDT by wolfcreek
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To: ClearCase_guy
Gore went to Harvard, where he finished in the bottom fifth of his class two years in a row.

In political science, for heaven's sake, baw haw haw! Sort of like finishing in the bottom fifth of the JV squad, eh?

7 posted on 06/08/2006 4:38:19 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (crime would drop like a sprung trapdoor if we brought back good old-fashioned hangings)
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To: 9999lakes
It sounds like a great book, and Sowell hits ANOTHER Home Run. But as to arguing with liberal lies -- what good does that do. They've got a million of 'em. Knock one down, they're back with two more. It must be quite liberating to be freed from the facts. Sticking to the truth is so confining.

It's easier to do that when you have the corner on putting out information. The flip side is that once you begin showing people a bunch of lies, their credibility all of a sudden drops. Thus the rise of FNC and the demise of the network snoozes. The new media has put out the truth and Amercans have begun to find out that they've been schookered.

Of course you have people that would side with lies for whatever reasons even if fully confronted with the truth. That one can't do much about.

8 posted on 06/08/2006 4:54:27 AM PDT by Fruitbat
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To: Fruitbat

Man, this one is selling out as fast as it's offered!


9 posted on 06/08/2006 5:29:41 AM PDT by Shimmer128 (I've seen the village, I don't want it raising my children)
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To: RWR8189

Thamks for posting this.

I just put "Conservative Comebacks to Liberal Lies" by Gregory Jackson on my Amazon wish list.


10 posted on 06/08/2006 5:33:39 AM PDT by Skooz (Chastity prays for me, piety sings...Modesty hides my thighs in her wings...)
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To: RWR8189

bttt


11 posted on 06/08/2006 6:20:06 AM PDT by expatpat
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To: ClearCase_guy

"Gore went to Harvard, where he finished in the bottom fifth of his class two years in a row."

Consider that Gore was most likely admitted as the son of a senator. This was not a competitive admission. Harvard saves a few places for celebrity admits, and those from very wealthy families which have promise as big future donors.

Even so, to be in the bottom fifth is quite a distinction. It almost would take determined effort for a normal Harvard student. Chances are that Gore did not take a difficult major: he is no scientist.

Major programs vary widely in difficulty, and everyone knows which are the easier ones.


12 posted on 06/08/2006 6:33:15 AM PDT by docbnj
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To: RWR8189

Presenting facts to libs just confuses them.
They only understand fake but accurate.


13 posted on 06/08/2006 6:42:28 AM PDT by D1X1E (Ever wonder if you make a difference in the world? Marines don't have that problem.)
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To: ClearCase_guy

You mean Rev. Albert A. Gore, Jr., Esq. isn't smarter than Bush? Oops, he flunked out of law school and divinity school. But he is a high priest of Gaia.


14 posted on 06/08/2006 6:59:52 AM PDT by yawningotter
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To: RWR8189
But who cares about facts any more?

certainly not the Dictatorship of the Media.

15 posted on 06/08/2006 7:21:57 AM PDT by the invisib1e hand
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To: dhuffman@awod.com
And Bush is merely a commodity, bought and sold by the GOP as they pander to d' masses, the mediocre middle, demotic democracy.

Very astute!
Astute and emanating from a deep well of humane sensibillity!

You have seen what few others have eyes to see: that conservatives are stupid or else they are evil puppet-masters. Hence,articulate + conservative = evil (Anne Coulter, for example) otherwise conservative = stupid (W) .

It's really unfortunate that most of humanity is common, ie stupid, and cannot comprehend the blessings you and your ilk (Lenin, Mao, Robespierre, Saint-Just, Pol Pot, Hillary) bring.

16 posted on 06/08/2006 9:35:50 AM PDT by tsomer
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To: tsomer

You got me wrong. The GOP does not define conservatism. Republicans are merely the right wing of the American cacocracy.


17 posted on 06/08/2006 11:16:14 AM PDT by dhuffman@awod.com (The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.)
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To: Shimmer128
Just went and pre-ordered it on Amazon. Ranked 145 now, up from 7995 yesterday.
18 posted on 06/08/2006 12:56:15 PM PDT by Talking_Mouse (Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just... Thomas Jefferson)
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To: docbnj
Chances are that Gore did not take a difficult major: he is no scientist.

As I recall, Gore did poorly in science classes, getting a high grade only in an environmental studies class, from a time when there was not even abused science in them.

19 posted on 06/08/2006 7:02:19 PM PDT by lepton ("It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"--Jonathan Swift)
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To: lepton

didn't he also flunk out of divinity school?

no wonder he sells "global warming" like a televangilist.


20 posted on 06/16/2006 11:32:09 AM PDT by Rakkasan1 (Illegal immigrants are just undocumented friends you haven't met yet!)
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