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The Public Policy
A Political Glossary: Part II
What does it mean to be denied “access”?
Politicians seem to have a special fondness for words that have two very different meanings, so we are likely to hear a lot of these kinds of words this election year.
“Access” is one of those words. Politicians seem to be forever coming to the rescue of people who have been denied “access” to credit, college or whatever.
But what does that mean, concretely?
It could mean that some external force is blocking you from whatever your goal might be. Or it could mean that you just don’t have whatever it takes to reach that goal.
To take a personal example, Michael Jordan became a basketball star — and a very rich man. I did neither. Was that because I was denied “access” to professional basketball?
Anyone who saw me as a teenager trying to play basketball could tell you that I was lucky to hit the back board, much less the basket.
By the first definition, I had as much “access” to the NBA as Michael Jordan had. Nobody was blocking me. They didn’t have to block, because I was not going to make the basket — or the NBA — anyway.
Making a distinction between external and internal reasons for failing to reach one’s goal would clarify the meaning of the word “access.” But clarification would destroy the political usefulness of the word, along with the government programs that this word is used to justify.
For years, politicians and the media went ballistic over the fact that different groups had different approval rates for mortgage loans. This was supposed to show that some racial groups were denied “access” to mortgage loans, and especially access to the most desired loans with the lowest interest rates.
No one even asked the question: Denied access by which definition of “access”?
Political crusaders don’t pause to define words. Their shrill rhetoric suggested that external barriers were the problem. And that meant government intervention was the solution, to smite the wicked and deliver “social justice” (another undefined term).
When statistics showed that blacks were turned down for conventional mortgage loans at twice the rate of whites, that was the clincher for those saying that “access” was the problem and that racial discrimination was the reason. Since this fit the existing preconceptions in many quarters, what more could you want?
Other statistics, however, showed that whites were turned down for conventional mortgage loans at nearly double the rate for Asian Americans. By the very same reasoning, that would suggest that whites were being racially discriminated against by banks that were mostly run by whites.
But this unlikely conclusion never surfaced, because the second set of statistics seldom saw the light of day in the mainstream media, even though both sets of statistics were available from the same sources.
To publish the second set of statistics would undermine the whole moral melodrama in the media, and the political crusade based on it.
About the Author
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (25) | Leave a comment
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Brooksifier | 6.27.12 @ 6:37AM
"To take a personal example, Michael Jordan became a basketball star -- and a very rich man. I did neither. Was that because I was denied 'access'?
Difference is, Michael Jordan has great talent, while Tom Sowell is a shill for Uncle Tom.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 7:39AM
Yeah. Nothing sucks more, than when one of those Uppity House Negr*s gets off his leash, and spouts a buncha gibberish about his betters. What's that boy thinking? Who's he think he is? If only you had a Whip.
What am I saying.
You suck more than that.
Right, Alan.
You suck all the time.
Von Mises Jr| 6.27.12 @ 8:30AM
And what is little Alan Brooksie's product or contribution to society? He is a freaking troll. He is a communist agitator like Obamao.
Dr. Thomas Sowell wrote some fifty books, half of which I own. He is a brilliant thinker who writes at Jewish World Review for years and also now on TAS. He is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute.
Brooksie is a narrow-minded, ignorant and obnoxious communist. He is a waif, a neophyte and a bore.
I choose Dr. Sowell and would not even have read the little Brooksie's comment if you did not reprimand him, TLP.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 9:05AM
I apologize for causing you any harm.
He's like that Overturned Tour Bus on the other side of the Highway.
You don't wanna look, but you can't turn away, either.
Von Mises Jr| 6.27.12 @ 10:09AM
TLP, I have no problem with you showering contempt or ridicule on Brooksie, Perp/Jefferson, DRed or Margie/Tim.
I have been championing the idea that we should not argue with them since they are not honest brokers of ideas, and we are facilitating them getting paid $20 per hour in Obama money.
They could not hold down a job for $7.50 per hour or whatever the minimum wage is flipping burgers. Besides, if they learned how to flip burgers, it would be something constructive and productive. Trolling is following Dear Leader as a Communist Agitator.
JD| 6.27.12 @ 4:32PM
You're both fools for taking such a stance. We have the right ideas; we should not degrade ourselves to their level by using insults instead of facts.
I personally want as many liberals to come here as possible. They might learn something. But they won't bother with open-mindedness if you attack someone they identify with on sight.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 5:47PM
I don't believe in NOT stooping to their level. You fight Fire with Fire.
To defeat your Enemy, you must think like you're Enemy.
You have to be prepared to get down in the Gutter, and Get Dirty.
I prefer to go to a Gun Fight, with a Gun, and not a Knife.
In the words of The 911 Commision: "They were at War with us, but we weren't at War with them."
This ain't Beanbag.
Capiche?
Von Mises Jr| 6.27.12 @ 8:08PM
Alinsky taught ridicule. Conservatives can read too.
Liberals don't argue. They propagandize. I will not debate with someone that is a liar. But I will call them a liar.
Brooksifier | 6.27.12 @ 5:11PM
"While often described as a black conservative, he prefers not to be labeled, and considers himself more libertarian than conservative."
Sowell is more libertarian than conservative?
JD| 6.27.12 @ 6:02PM
What do you think the difference is?
Appleby| 6.27.12 @ 6:48AM
My Dad always said, "It's nice to have a yacht, but it's best to have a friend who has a yacht." Although I have never been in the yacht bracket, nevertheless I have "access" to yachts! A German friend showed me how to do this: walk through the marina at Balboa Island and when you see people sitting on the fantail of their yachts, call out, "Beautiful boat!" and half of them will say, "Like to come aboard?" Be friendly, be appreciative, and remember that what they have is what they have, and what you have is what you have. Some people invited us for cocktails and/or dinner. A couple of guys invited us to join a 3 day cruise to San Diego with them and their friends. I also have "access" to beautiful cars because I have friends who have them. This costs nothing but the proper attitude and can lead you anywhere.
Skippy| 6.27.12 @ 1:32PM
Ownership is overrated.
It is an axiom that planes, RV's, horses and boats should always be rented; never owned.
The happiest day for any of those is the one you sell it.
TLP| 6.27.12 @ 7:27AM
The Liberal Media. The Trial Lawyers. The Tort Lawyers. The Public Sector Unions. Publick Edukasun, The ACLU types, and The Democrat Party.
Put them all together and one wonders how it's possible that we're not even worse off than we are, now.
The History of Maknkind is littered with the Victims of The Left's version of Shangrala. An All Powerful Centralized State with their Apparatchiks in Control at the Local Levels.
One Ring to Control them all, by any means necessary.
Human Beings, as individuals, strive to better themselves. (Some, not all) They Read. They exercise their bodies and their minds. They work hard at their jobs or their professions for a Better Life for themselves and their Families. They are Anathema to the Leftist's Vision and must be Taxed and Regulated out of existence for the Good of the Body. The Middle Class is Anethema. The Private Sector.
There has never been ANYONE in this Country who has single handedly Killed more Jobs, than Hamas' Deliveror. And now, he is sending his WAFFEN SS EPA, out on a Mission to Shut Down the Fracking Industry on Private Land. A direct challenge to his Authority, and the Power of the Ring.
Can anybody explain his OBSESSION with Killing the Private Sector, since "He's not a Marxist!"
Perhaps some of our Resident Apologizers will fill us in?
What does all of this have to do with Dr. Sowell's Column?
Everything.
"I'll supply the HEADLINES. You supply the WAR."
Ken (Old Texican)| 6.27.12 @ 8:02AM
Thomas,
thanks.
Well spoken.
Pecos Pete| 6.27.12 @ 8:08AM
Dr. Sowell: Thank you for trying to explain the real world. The problem is that there are so many people who live in a fantasy world and they could care not one whit about facts.
(Yeah, I mean Alan Brooks, Purp and the whole lot of those people who term themselves progressives. They live lives of utter desperation believing in money trees and fairies.)
Von Mises Jr| 6.27.12 @ 8:39AM
What Dr. Sowell explains is why your house is worth crap and you can't sell it, and why there are no jobs. "Fairness" and "Access" is the reason we had the Sub-prime collapse. People were given approvals on credit that they could not repay.
Banks, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, as well as your fixed income plans for retirement and pension plans are replete with loans that cannot be repaid since the borrowers are losers.
So it is NOT some theoretical argument about "fairness" or "access." It is about power hungry socialist redistributing your wealth and collecting a giant vig for doing so.
Dr. Sowell has also had productive jobs in the private economy in addition to his great writings. The people that redistributed your wealth only get crony capitalist jobs at Fannie, Freddie, Goldman, Citi and the like due to their "access" through government.
Petronius| 6.27.12 @ 10:12AM
Access means one thing to the Trash. Privacy and Privilege are crimes when others tell them to get lost. Civil Rights (?) Laws gave them the Right to invade Our lives. It's a one way street because we don't want to associate with them. There are some people who still have the Right to freely associate. Most are in government and positions of institutional authority. The others have enough money to live as they like without the frontal assaults from the pond life. But if you're in the middle class, you are a target for any and all who resent your desire and efforts to insulate yourself from them and their gutter culture.
JD| 6.27.12 @ 11:01AM
This reminds me of an article by the dumbest writer I've ever encountered - Sharon Begley of what was formerly Newsweek Magazine:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/n.....it-on.html
This insanely stupid woman dared try to counter arguments that ObamaCare would lead to health-care rationing by writing about her brilliant ivory tower discovery: that health care is already "rationed by ability to pay."
Nevermind that the DEFINITION of ration is to "distribute by means other than ability to pay" or that by her definition, ALL THINGS are rationed.
I being to wonder what words the Left HASN'T redefined.
Mike G| 6.27.12 @ 12:55PM
"But to lay all these facts before the public and say, "We report, you decide" might well result in the public's deciding that banks and other financial institutions prefer lending to individuals who were more likely to pay them back."
But then I wouldn't have access because I'm poor. Maybe the government should give me some money to rectify that.
Tom Kyba| 6.27.12 @ 1:08PM
While Brooksifier sits in front of his computer with one hand in his crotch and the other working the magnifying glass, some of us understand what guts it must take for someone like Sowell to refuse to believe the myths perpetrated by stupid, guilt-ridden white liberals who treat blacks and other minorities like pets. I guess the endless taunts he has probably endured from race-baiting weasels like Brooksifier don't count as racism, eh Beavis? Some of us have read a lot and can tell that this man is a sage for the age, expounding intelligently on a variety of subjects and doing copious research which leaves people like me envious of his abilities. Like Von Mises Jr. I have read most of Sowell's work and it stands up to if not above the works of most of his peers. We who appreciate great thinkers will keep reading Sowell, while you brain-dead liberals can keep reading...uh...hmm. Books by great liberal thinkers...well there must be one or two somewhere.
Skippy| 6.27.12 @ 1:34PM
I'll take Uncle Tom Sowell over Prince Bambo anyday.
JD| 6.27.12 @ 4:59PM
I've long dreamed of taking ownership of the woefully under-developed liberaldictionary.com and writing a much longer version of Sowell's glossary. The goal would not be to directly insult the left, but rather to expose its lunacy by pretending to be serious, with humorous results.
One important word that Sowell omits is "tolerance". The Left has really mangled this one. Tolerance is, definitionally, a behavior towards something that one dislikes. You dislike something, yet you "tolerate" it by tempering your hostility towards it with some measure of civility.
If one does not disagree with something, it is IMPOSSIBLE to "tolerate" it, because the idea of tolerance requires the disagreement. If you agree with something, tolerance becomes unnecessary to the point of being a contradiction in terms.
Yet the Left frequently equates "tolerance" with "agreement". It does this by declaring all disagreement to be "intolerance", regardless of the manner of the disagreement. Disagreement on certain issues (homosexuality is today's example du jour) is IMMEDIATELY labeled "intolerance", even if it's just a simple principled, reasoned statement of opposition to a legal proposal that obligates all Americans to endorse a lifestyle.
Marie| 6.27.12 @ 7:59PM
I am particularly enjoying Al Sharpton's brand of word smithing. Yesterday, he started a segment about how the House is attempting to vote contempt charges against Eric Holder because of voter suppression. At first, there was no voter fraud. Next, there was very little voter fraud. Lastly, there was no widespread voter fraud. In the matter of minutes, he went from Zero Fraud to No Widespread Fraud. It was AWESOME!
scotchieguy| 6.27.12 @ 8:48PM
Mr. Sowell, excellent article again. I love the part about the Asians. That ought to shut the fools in the MSM up. Well, maybe for a day or too. You should be required reading in order to have "access" to a degree.
JD| 6.28.12 @ 12:39PM
Why would it possibly shut them up? They don't know it, and they won't know it.