The oldest fraud is the belief that the political left is the party of the poor and the downtrodden.
Tag: Thomas Sowell
(1930- ) American economist, turned social theorist, political philosopher, and author. He is currently Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.
How demagogues work
Intellectuals may like to think of themselves as people who ‘speak truth to power,’ but too often they are people who speak lies to gain power.
Trading down
If we become a people who are willing to give up our money and our freedom in exchange for rhetoric and promises, then nothing can save us.
The ignorance of the educated
Of all ignorance, the ignorance of the educated is the most dangerous. Not only are educated people likely to have more influence, they are the last people to suspect that they don’t know what they are talking about when they go outside their narrow fields.
Better in every way
The left’s vision is not only a vision of the world, but also a vision of themselves, as superior beings pursuing superior ends. In the United States, however, this vision conflicts with a Constitution that begins, ‘We the People …’
May sound good, but it doesn’t work
The strongest argument for socialism is that it sounds good. The strongest argument against socialism is that it doesn’t work. But those who live by words will always have a soft spot in their hearts for socialism because it sounds so good.
Virtue signalling
Virtually no idea is too ridiculous to be accepted, even by very intelligent and highly educated people, if it provides a way for them to feel special and important. Some confuse that feeling with idealism.
Self-affirming negativity
The beauty of doing nothing is that you can do it perfectly. Only when you do something is it almost impossible to do it without mistakes. Therefore people who are contributing nothing to society, except their constant criticisms, can feel both intellectually and morally superior.
It’s good to be the government
It is so easy to be wrong — and to persist in being wrong — when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.
Spreading poverty
The history of the 20th century is full of examples of countries that set out to redistribute wealth and ended up redistributing poverty.