Posted on 12/26/2016 11:12:14 AM PST by jazusamo
Even the best things come to an end. After enjoying a quarter of a century of writing this column for Creators Syndicate, I have decided to stop. Age 86 is well past the usual retirement age, so the question is not why I am quitting, but why I kept at it so long.
It was very fulfilling to be able to share my thoughts on the events unfolding around us, and to receive feedback from readers across the country — even if it was impossible to answer them all.
Being old-fashioned, I liked to know what the facts were before writing. That required not only a lot of research, it also required keeping up with what was being said in the media.
During a stay in Yosemite National Park last May, taking photos with a couple of my buddies, there were four consecutive days without seeing a newspaper or a television news program — and it felt wonderful. With the political news being so awful this year, it felt especially wonderful.
This made me decide to spend less time following politics and more time on my photography, adding more pictures to my website (www.tsowell.com).
Looking back over the years, as old-timers are apt to do, I see huge changes, both for the better and for the worse.
In material things, there has been almost unbelievable progress. Most Americans did not have refrigerators back in 1930, when I was born. Television was little more than an experiment, and such things as air-conditioning or air travel were only for the very rich.
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...
He was among the people I really respected who did not like the choice of Trump for President. I think I know what he meant, same with Dennis Prager, but heroes come in funny packages sometimes. I was surprised that neither man nor any other wise conservative people I respect who shared that opinion (not “NeverTrump” but Yuck, Trump) didn’t see that. We could only have been saved by someone wealthy enough to protect his family from threat, and someone who believed in himself and had others believe in him TO A VERY LARGE EXTENT. Trump has the necessary ego, from accomplishment and hard work. It’s not an arrogance based in desperate insecurity like, say, Obama.
Couldn’t Sowell see that only such a man, unpalatable perhaps, could break our biparty oligarchy? And it is clear in his life that Trump has been a quiet supporter of African American middle class, and was extremely unbiased against black contestants on his show.
With that whine above said, I do want to wish Dr. Sowell a long and healthy retirement and thank him for his columns and books, from which I personally learned a very great deal. Thus he has been my professor too. I don’t know how many parking lots I was stuck in when he was on the radio with Walter Williams. There was NO WAY I was getting out of the car and missing one drop of that wisdom.
Will miss this man’s insight and commentary.
Great. Now all I need is for Walt Williams to retire.
:-\
An intellectual AND a man of common sense. Not always found jointly in academia. His work will be read when many others will sit on the shelf.
I'd appreciate that.
Just the way I feel. God bless Thomas Sowell. A true American intellectual.
His photographs are very good. My husband is a serious-hobbyist photographer (i.e., spends a lot of money on stuff), and he is really enjoying them.
In the NeverTrump issue of NR, Sowell likened Trump to Hitler. He spoke into a microphone! In front of cheering crowds! And he said that, once in office, he was GOING TO DO THINGS! (As everyone understands, promising to DO THINGS was proof that Trump was going to destroy the Constitution and declare himself dictator.) I was a Sowell fan for forty years, but he utterly disgraced himself in 2016.
Bttt.
5.56mm
He really is a quite good photographer and I especially love his outdoor photos. I can no longer get out and hoof it to places I enjoyed photographing as a hobbiest photog but it seems even at 86 that Sowell is still in pretty good physical condition as he mentioned recently going to Yosemite.
Lots of long-distance views, but his close observation is good, too.
Dr. Sowell, thanks for all the times you made me think. Thanks especially for “The Vision of the Anointed.” May you have a long, happy retirement.
He would have been a serious Republican contender for president by the 1970s.
Unfortunately, 90% of American Blacks would have voted against him.
He should have phased himself out, cutting his column to monthly.
I learned of your existence many years ago from the G. Gordon Liddy radio show. G. Gordon Liddy referred to you as a National Treasury. I came to agree and the nation will miss you.
On a personal note I am pleased you did not seek political office. I imagine you have accomplished what God sent you here to do.
Just think, the man I consider the wisest man in America whose thoughts I have access to disagree with my choice for president. The man whose views I would seek above all others made a mistake. The man I refer to as a National Treasure has a flaw.
I put that altogether and decided to vote for Donald Trump without diminished my respect for Dr. Thomas Sowell.
Try harder; it can be done.
Need to agree. Sowell went full on eGOP and denounced Trump as a fascist.
Well said, as I did also.
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.