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

Skip to comments.

Now Is No Time to Be Voting for President Based on Emotion
NRO ^ | September 15, 2015 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 09/15/2015 3:43:16 AM PDT by nikos1121

In a country with more than 300 million people, it is remarkable how obsessed the media have become with just one — Donald Trump. What is even more remarkable is that, after six years of repeated disasters, both domestically and internationally, under a glib egomaniac in the White House, so many potential voters are turning to another glib egomaniac to be his successor.

No doubt much of the stampede of Republican voters toward Mr. Trump is based on their disgust with the Republican establishment. The fact that the next two biggest vote-getters in the polls are also complete outsiders — Dr. Ben Carson and Ms. Carly Fiorina — reinforces the idea that this is a protest. It is easy to understand why there would be pent-up resentments among Republican voters. But are elections held for the purpose of venting emotions? No national leader ever aroused more fervent emotions than Adolf Hitler did in the 1930s. Watch some old newsreels of German crowds delirious with joy at the sight of him. The only things at all comparable in more recent times were the ecstatic crowds that greeted Barack Obama when he burst upon the political scene in 2008. Elections, however, have far more lasting, and far more serious — or even grim — consequences than emotional venting. The actual track record of crowd-pleasers, whether Juan Peron in Argentina, Obama in America, or Hitler in Germany, is very sobering, if not painfully depressing.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/424008/donald-trump-voters-election-egomaniac

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: patronizing; sowell; trump
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 261 next last
I used to be an avid Thomas Sowell reader, but of late, it's clear that he's jumped the shark. I'm posting this article, suggesting that you DON'T read more than a few paragraphs. The man is totally, totally clueless of what is going on in this country. I'm not talking conservatives, I'm talking with everyone... from all backgrounds.

Yes, Mr. Sowell, we are emotional. This is our country. We are Americans and proud of it, and I guarantee you there many many people living here, from families that came here generations ago, that do not want to see any more illegals, and yes... yes.. Mr. Sowell, they want a wall built, and they want to make this country great again.

So, keep writing your articles...that make absolutely no sense to me. Yes, we have other candidates out there, but they say nothing, and do nothing.

1 posted on 09/15/2015 3:43:16 AM PDT by nikos1121
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

Vote for Trump because he has good hair.


2 posted on 09/15/2015 3:44:16 AM PDT by Ethan Clive Osgoode (We have had enough of immorality and the mockery of ethics, goodness, faith and honesty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

great post.


3 posted on 09/15/2015 3:51:24 AM PDT by dp0622
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

I’m voting wrecking ball 2016!


4 posted on 09/15/2015 3:53:29 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

I am sorry, people. Those of you here that are so fascinated with Thomas Sowell and often preach his amazing intellect, etc. ad nauseam.

Sowell was writing OP EDs nearly 18 months ago about how we had to vote establishment Republican and opt for the second most evil, most electable Republican we could stomach. I remember at least two of his OP EDs that discussed this at length at the time.

Here, in this drivel, he pulls out everything but the kitchen sink. Comparisons of the populist narcissism of Trump with Adolph Hitler and the eventual damage that caused; visions of the scorched radioactive bodies of our children because of letting our ‘emotions’ getting away from us (i.e., not voting establishment’s next best evil electable), and the final invocation of Juan Peron and Barack Obama.

The problem is Mr. Sowell that you talk like you want the American voter to be informed, but when we ‘get’ informed and learn all about you and your ilk, our politicians and government and vow to do something about it, you suddenly don’t think righteous indignation is good any more. It’s emotional and you don’t like it because your side doesn’t win and your go-along job and fame are threatened. In other words, we are becoming hip to your game.

Take your drivel on off to the curb where it belongs, Sowell.


5 posted on 09/15/2015 3:57:41 AM PDT by Gaffer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

when you’re losing your country, citizens are permitted to exercise their survival instinct.
Mr. Sowell’s thoughts are better suited for another time.


6 posted on 09/15/2015 3:59:02 AM PDT by dontreadthis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121
Are we to sacrifice even this messenger, Thomas Sowell, whose conservative credentials are unassailable in the service of Donald Trump?


7 posted on 09/15/2015 3:59:05 AM PDT by nathanbedford ("Attack, repeat, attack!" Bull Halsey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121
Yes, who else but Trump can win?

That is what the elites are counting on to get in their man Bush.

8 posted on 09/15/2015 4:00:34 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121
Donald Trump is not the only obstacle to finding leaders of such character. The ultimate danger lies in the voting public themselves. All too many signs point to an electorate including many people who are grossly uninformed or, worse yet, misinformed.

We can only hope that the months still remaining before the first primary elections next year will allow voters to get over their emotional responses and concentrate on the life-and-death implications of choosing the next president of the United States.

Sure...The 40% in New Hampshire who support Trump are just uninformed, a little too emotional...a little too ignorant...

Sowell is just another Washington Cartel Shill...If Sowell is able to influence any one, that's the person who is too ignorant to be voting...

9 posted on 09/15/2015 4:02:13 AM PDT by Iscool (HOA member...(heaven is a gated community))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nathanbedford

It would seem that Sowell has sold out to the Establishment.


10 posted on 09/15/2015 4:02:33 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration (Pr 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation:but sin is a reproach to any people)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121
I think many of these intellectuals---Sowell, VDH, for example---understand but don't want to admit what we are facing: the possibility of the collapse of the political system. We have not one, not two, but ALL THREE branches of government that quit doing their constitutional jobs. We have a party system that stopped doing the job it was trusted to do by Madison. We have a "Fourth Estate" that quit doing its job 30 years ago.

So, yes it is very much like those situations. I don't know much about Peron. But Hitler and Franco were NOT elected. Hitler was named Chancellor by a MINORITY of NSDAP who had allies in the Nationalist Party. Franco was a general who staged a coup.

I won't kid Freepers: the Mussolini connection has crossed my mind. There are big differences. The Italian fascists were a minority in a multi-party system who had a paramilitary thug group and who had a LARGE portion of the press on their side. Trump is a total outsider, with the media and established parties against him, with no paramilitary at all.

One big danger is that our own military in fact hates Obama. We don't want to ever have to pit the military against the civilian here or we are finished.

11 posted on 09/15/2015 4:04:25 AM PDT by LS ("Castles Made of Sand, Fall in the Sea . . . Eventually" (Hendrix))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

Sowell is scum to compare Mr. Trump to Hitler
as he takes time from bowing before his Caliph.


12 posted on 09/15/2015 4:05:07 AM PDT by Diogenesis ("When a crime is unpunished, the world is unbalanced.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

Join the resistance movement and make American great again.


13 posted on 09/15/2015 4:05:45 AM PDT by School of Rational Thought
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

I agree with Sowell on emotionally imagining any candidate will solve whatever we view as a problem. This morning an FR poster said, “President Trump will nuke them.” An article yesterday was titled, “Imagining a Trump presidency.” Many posters say something like, “Trump will (fill in blank with whatever they would like to do.)”

Having been betrayed by the GOP, whom we elected with great hopes, we are now focusing on a savior. Not a president, mind you, but a savior. There is only one savior and He is not human. We all need to take a step back and a deep breath. Sure Trump is saying all the things we’d like to hear, but then every politician does. It’s just that they are mostly known liars. Trump is an unknown and we are painting our own views and imagined actions on somebody who in all likelihood is mostly ego. (Everybody scream, “You’re fired!”) We need a sober statesman as president, not an egomaniac.

Somebody said to me, “Trump wrote the art of the deal.” Maybe he did. But he has lead thousands of investors to ruin while remaining rich himself. He gambles with other people’s lives and money while remaining aloft from the bad results.

We need to make an informed decision, not an emotional one. Emotion got us into the current crises. It won’t get us out again.


14 posted on 09/15/2015 4:06:03 AM PDT by Gen.Blather
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121
So, the Trump supporters are now throwing Thomas Sowell overboard, along with Victor Davis Hansen, and several other conservative stalwarts.
15 posted on 09/15/2015 4:07:55 AM PDT by The_Victor (If all I want is a warm feeling, I should just wet my pants.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: nathanbedford

Dr. Sowell, I suppose, would say, “This is exactly what I mean.”


16 posted on 09/15/2015 4:12:10 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I want to live my cat's life.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Gen.Blather
He gambles with other people’s lives and money while remaining aloft from the bad results.

If he's not the Republican candidate, he can walk away from the whole affair, untouched. Short of an Iranian nuclear attack on New York, nothing will touch him.

17 posted on 09/15/2015 4:13:43 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I want to live my cat's life.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

Thomas Sowell has been a great, great man—but he’s now 85 years old. His ghostwriter is probably from the mainstream GOPe/RINO pundit class.


18 posted on 09/15/2015 4:14:04 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gen.Blather

I suffer no illusions that Trump is a Messiah or Savior or anything like that. He is a means to an end for me - the destruction of the establishment’s best candidate, Jeb Bush.

To me, Trump is the crystal that focuses the ire and indignation of Americans who have had enough - more than enough, in fact. Lying, appeasing, equivocation, backstabbing establishment Republican politicians.

So in that vein, his usefulness to me is in bringing down the GOP establishment house of cards. I am perfectly willing to let Trump continue up and until Jeb Bush is defeated.


19 posted on 09/15/2015 4:15:20 AM PDT by Gaffer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: nikos1121

A majority of We The People feel our nation is already GONE. Politicians (mostly Republicans) refuse to listen to US.

To our governing class I say:
“The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”
(-James A. Baldwin)

(p.s., we feel we have nothing to lose, at this point)


20 posted on 09/15/2015 4:18:32 AM PDT by Baldwin77 (Christians want their RAINBOW back. I'm offended the gays use a Biblical icon as their flag.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 261 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