The American Spectator : Liberalism Versus Blacks

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Liberalism Versus Blacks

By Thomas Sowell on 1.15.13 @ 6:06AM

Liberals take positions that make them look good and feel good — and show very little interest in the actual consequences.

There is no question that liberals do an impressive job of expressing concern for blacks. But do the intentions expressed in their words match the actual consequences of their deeds?

San Francisco is a classic example of a city unexcelled in its liberalism. But the black population of San Francisco today is less than half of what it was back in 1970, even though the city’s total population has grown.

Severe restrictions on building housing in San Francisco have driven rents and home prices so high that blacks and other people with low or moderate incomes have been driven out of the city. The same thing has happened in a number of other California communities dominated by liberals.

Liberals try to show their concern for the poor by raising the level of minimum wage laws. Yet they show no interest in hard evidence that minimum wage laws create disastrous levels of unemployment among young blacks in this country, as such laws created high unemployment rates among young people in general in European countries.

The black family survived centuries of slavery and generations of Jim Crow, but it has disintegrated in the wake of the liberals’ expansion of the welfare state. Most black children grew up in homes with two parents during all that time but most grow up with only one parent today.

Liberals have pushed affirmative action, supposedly for the benefit of blacks and other minorities. But two recent factual studies show that affirmative action in college admissions has led to black students with every qualification for success being artificially turned into failures by being mismatched with colleges for the sake of racial body count.

The two most recent books that show this with hard facts are Mismatch by Richard Sander and Stuart Taylor, Jr., and Wounds That Will Not Heal by Russell K. Nieli. My own book Affirmative Action Around the World shows the same thing with different evidence.

In all these cases, and many others, liberals take positions that make them look good and feel good — and show very little interest in the actual consequences for others, even when liberal policies are leaving havoc in their wake.

The current liberal crusade for more so-called “gun control” laws is more of the same. Factual studies over the years, both in the United States and in other countries, repeatedly show that “gun control” laws do not in fact reduce crimes committed with guns.

Cities with some of the tightest gun control laws in the nation have murder rates far above the national average. In the middle of the 20th century, New York had far more restrictive gun control laws than London, but London had far less gun crime. Yet gun crimes in London skyrocketed after severe gun control laws were imposed over the next several decades.

Although gun control is not usually considered a racial issue, a wholly disproportionate number of Americans killed by guns are black. But here, as elsewhere, liberals’ devotion to their ideology greatly exceeds their concern about what actually happens to flesh and blood human beings as a result of their ideology.

One of the most polarizing and counterproductive liberal crusades of the 20th century has been the decades-long busing crusade to send black children to predominantly white schools. The idea behind this goes back to the pronouncement by Chief Justice Earl Warren that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Yet within walking distance of the Supreme Court where this pronouncement was made was an all-black high school that had scored higher than two-thirds of the city’s white high schools taking the same test — way back in 1899! But who cares about facts, when you are on a liberal crusade that makes you feel morally superior?

To challenge government-imposed racial segregation and discrimination is one thing. But to claim that blacks get a better education if they sit next to whites in school is something very different. And it is something that goes counter to the facts.

Many liberal ideas about race sound plausible, and it is understandable that these ideas might have been attractive 50 years ago. What is not understandable is how so many liberals can blindly ignore 50 years of evidence to the contrary since then.

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 (59) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.15.13 @ 8:18AM

Among the other pathologies that accompany not having to worry about the negative consequences of policy, is never having to say that you're sorry for those consequences. If confronted undeniably with failure, you can place the blame by saying that you didn't go far enough, and in order to make it right now, you must be given more money and power, and take away more liberty, in order to get it right this time.

Rick Z| 1.15.13 @ 11:40AM

Liberalism is Never Having to Say You are Sorry.
. . . . . h/t . . Ryan O'Neal, as Oliver Barrett IV in "Love Story"

Doctor Right| 1.15.13 @ 4:45PM

That's not incidental, by the way.

Liberals never say they're sorry because they are literally never sorry.

That's because Liberalism is a deeply narcissistic world view that emphasizes deeply personalized feelings over logic and common sense.

In addition, most narcissists possess little to no empathy, and have very low self-esteem. In other words, they 're unable to understand the pain they cause, and can't admit to being wrong because it affronts their desired self-image. Narcissists don't do introspection.

You can see this in everything the Liberal touches; good intentions followed by disaster followed by doubling-down on the ideas that caused the problem in the first place rather than a careful analysis of what went wrong, and how to avoid it next time.

Lest anyone think I'm bashing Liberals...I am. But Republican ranks are also filled with preening narcissists; John McCain and Newt Gingrich are prime examples.

It's a bad characteristic for people whom we choose to lead the country.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 1.15.13 @ 4:51PM

I feel narcissism is becoming a much more prevalent characteristic amongst people in our country these days, and too few are content with merely 15 minutes of fame.

Nancy in NC| 1.15.13 @ 8:21AM

Dr. Sowell states truth so well, and is ignored by the left as he doesn't swallow their tripe. Reason is a foreign language to the left.

JimH| 1.15.13 @ 8:28AM

Modern liberals (in the American sense) are the descendants of 19th century progressives. These pseuds tried to take their own prejudices embodied in such nostrums as eugenics, Fabianism, Marxism and other socialist pipe dreams and wrap the mantle of science around them. These frauds treat Science the way Cargo cults treat airplanes. They see it provide benefits but do not understand how it works. They adopt the outward appearance of the scientific method thinking it will bestow credibility to dubious theories. They do this because progressives did not then nor now trust that the great unwashed masses are best left to making their own decisions.

Al Adab| 1.15.13 @ 8:38AM

Was it not the good intentions of the left which begat the ghettos which are public housing projects? When we institutionalize a vision of people as members of racial, ethnic or socio-economic groups (which is what slavery did) and refuse to recognize them as the individuals they are we demean our fellow citizens. While such a cynical system may impart political power to its adherents, it destroys the value of the millions of individuals who make up the vitality, wealth and strength of this nation.

TLP| 1.15.13 @ 1:56PM

Let me put this as simply as I can.

FDR's New Deal was gonna be the best thing since Hostess Twinkees. (Oops) The Government would throw Money around in every direction. Not so much to help the people, as to Control them. Control Wages (Nice Work if you can get it) Control the means of Production. Control every aspect of everybody's lives.

Unions used to be a Good Thing. Now they have become like Locusts, descending on Businesses and Cities and Stripping them Bare, til nothing is left but Detroit.

LBJ's Great Society was gonna Save Black America. It Destroyed it.

School Busing would help all of the Children. All it did was make the White Kids worse, while doing nothing at all for the Black Kids.

Sex Education was gonna stop Teen Pregnancies. It Quadrupled them, at least.

Affirmative Action has made every Minority Hire a Suspect. Is Dr. Jones really a good Doctor? Or did some Liberal Judge force some Medical School to give him a Diploma?

Obama got $900 Billion for Job Creation. THANK GOD! He pissed it all away. No Jobs.

By Electing him, we were gonna shed that Racist label once and for all. Race Relations are worse than they've been in a Generation.

Blacks have been DUMBED DOWN fo 50 Years, ON PURPOSE, in the same way that you are told DON'T FEED THE BEARS, at National Parks, lest they forget how to feed themselves.

nathan| 1.15.13 @ 3:36PM

Once again though sadly and it is sad, not a single not ONE republican president or congress in the post war period addressed one single thing you said above sir. Name one thing program any of them rolled back. ONE You can't. You can't ignore/excuse the complicity of every single major republican leader in the post war period Reagan included who made no meaningful effort to address every issue above. Bush Jr. made it worse with Plan D which PR and Newt supported. I'm sorry but if republicans had done their jobs starting with Ike and focused as much of their time on domestic issues as they did on playing overseas, we wouldn't be in near the mess we are now. We for the most never had any real conservatives in office, just neocons.

CJW| 1.15.13 @ 6:58PM

Al Adab
The housing projects primarily for blacks in the northern cities, especially Chicago, were a form of segregation to place blacks in one area, and it was done in cities such as Chicago ruled by Dem mayors and the Dem machine. You can see the same in other cities where the projects were located.

Joellen| 1.15.13 @ 8:41AM

I had a conversation with a democrat, who ran for office, and who is Catholic. When I asked him "as a Catholic, how can you support the Democrat platform, especially their love of abortion"? He, the democrat, actually said to me, he didnt want to pay for all the minorities having children all over the place, better to abort them.

Now folks, that the REAL liberal mindset - they just arent as honest as that one was to me.

Von Mises Jr| 1.15.13 @ 8:44AM

Dr. Sowell omitted two of the greatest injustices for blacks and all minorities. After reading two-dozen of Thomas Sowell's tomes along with his predecessors in economic thought, one understands that booms and busts, as well as inflation do not affect all groups or individuals the same.
The housing crisis decreased the value of our home by perhaps 25%. But if you were still rising through the middle class as a young minority couple and you wound up underwater on your mortgage and foreclosed upon, then you not only do not have your house anymore but your credit is ruined. But for the 25% loss in my home, I made money on precious metals and commodities that offset some losses. A minority family may not have had the wealth accumulation to invest in the market.
Likewise, up and coming groups will be hurt much more by inflation as their prices rise as they are in debt. They may have difficulty feeding their family while an old white guy may have to forgo a West Coast vacation to go to the family shore house.
The same policies that destroy income and class mobility that protects Buffet and Gates while confiscating income of small business owners also locks secure families in decent lifestyles, while at the same time making it impossible not only for SMB to become filthy rich, but up and coming earners to reach comfortable middle class status.

Purp| 1.15.13 @ 8:48AM

"CONSERVATIVES take positions that make them look good and feel good — and show very little interest in the actual consequences." - think foolish invasions of foreign countries; Vaginal ultrasound probes; killing doctors that perform abortion; loading up on semi-automatic assault rifles and 100 round clips with thousands of rounds of ammo; voter ID laws that attempt to restrict voting rights.

When will conservadums realize that comparing our multi-racial, multi-cultural society and it's choices to Europe's own choices, governments, and programs is just plain stupid. What works there doesn't always work here and vice versa in a lot of ways.

How can a black man be so racist? It's appalling.

Sjccoach| 1.15.13 @ 8:52AM

You are the typical liberal who quotes all of the liberal memes. When someone tells the truth and you can not refute it you call them a racist. Name calling is a sign of person who has no arguments.

Von Mises Jr| 1.15.13 @ 11:05AM

You are wasting your time. He is too stupid to understand or to even know he has been insulted. So just insult him if you must respond and have a laugh at Caliban's expense.

Riff Raff| 1.15.13 @ 11:11AM

Exactly. Purp is a tiresome, dim-witted fool, an arrogant, aggressive, ass with a bad attitude, who is ill-educated and unable to process facts logically. It is a waste of time going back and forth with him. Ignore him, that's my advice.

Von Mises Jr| 1.15.13 @ 12:56PM

Thank you Rff Raff. It is not only a waste of time, but the donkey is being paid to disrupt your conversations. You are contibuting to MoveOn's success by doing anything other than call it the POS it is.

Al Adab| 1.15.13 @ 1:06PM

Jr.:
Purp is useful in that he reveals the vision The Ideological Left has of American Conservatism. By seeing others as an ignorant and monolithic group rather than viewing them as individuals he is able to maintain his prejudice against those who seek Liberty first rather than paternalism. Were he and others of his ilk to take the time to read, they might come to understand that republicans are not Conservatives and that The Conservative Movement remains the only source of thoughtful philosophy in our political life.

Riff Raff| 1.15.13 @ 2:00PM

Like we didn't know this already?

Von Mises Jr| 1.15.13 @ 3:26PM

Al, I think the world of you but Perp is not useful, although he may be a "useful idiot."

Al Adab| 1.15.13 @ 5:48PM

Jr.:
I'll grant the useful idiot formulation my friend. Your 1:56 above shows just how that specific road is paved with good intentions.

Riff:
Perhaps I overstated the obvious so forgive me. Still is it not good to remind ourselves how devoid of thought is modern liberalism? Emotionalism trumps reason every time.

WolfHawke| 1.15.13 @ 4:53PM

Some of the statements I've read here suggest that we conservatives (at least those on this site) are seeing liberals as "an ignorant and monolithic group" as well. Maybe they are, but we must be careful to not throw all liberals into one giant basket they way they do us. Otherwise we will end up being exactly what they claim we are. (In other words, think before you write and call names.)

Al Adab| 1.15.13 @ 5:50PM

True indeed sir:
We fall victim to the same error for which we criticize the opposition. Many social libs are not necessarily fiscal libs although I daresay, they intend to do good with other peoples money.

CJW| 1.15.13 @ 7:01PM

Al Adab
We all know purpie is a moron, but he does state the lefty line. Lefties like him actually believe they are smarter than Sowell, and believe they know more about blacks than Sowell. Only a while liberal fool would believe that.

Alan's Girl| 1.15.13 @ 1:42PM

Down here in Texas, we call folks like Purp, persons with "a bad assitude."

Doctor Right| 1.15.13 @ 3:09PM

In New Jersey, we just call them a-holes...

KennesawJack| 1.15.13 @ 12:02PM

Purp, I don't know who are or what your curriculum vitae is, but for you to call a man of Dr. Sowell's stature a racist is an obscenity. In addiition, your furtherance of the lie of a "multi-cultural" society is deplorable. It's E Pluribus UNUM, you pinko sycophant. Only by furthering the racist lie of cultural equivalence can you slave masters on the left keep your minions in bondage. It is only when minorities EMBRACE the distinctly AMERICAN culture of individual freedom, responsibility, and independence they rise out of the chains of economic degradation and moral depravity you Marxist's strive to keep them in. You are pathetic.

junkyard infidel| 1.15.13 @ 12:32PM

i'll say it again perp... as demonstrated with every fecal brained comment you make, the peanut in mr. sowell's turd is more intelligent than you !

JD| 1.15.13 @ 12:52PM

Purp demonstrated a LOT of stupidity in that post.

There is nothing "conservative" about imperial military behavior, which is why the term "neo-conservative" was invented to distinguish people with these ideas from conservatives.

As for Voter ID and Sowell's positions on race, Purp knows well that we believe (correctly) that these are good ideas that solve problems - problems which hurt minorities as much as anyone. To call people "racist" for supporting them simply because his liberal stupidity makes him think that they hurt minorities demonstrates his extremely juvenile inability to comprehend the perspectives of anyone but himself.

nathan| 1.15.13 @ 1:39PM

"semi-automatic assault rifle" is an oxymoron sir. Let's be clear. The proper definition of "assault" rifle as understood for firearms is a gun that gives the user select fire options. That means he can select one round per pull of the trigger, three (in some cases like M-16's) or fully automatic. No firearm that is semi-automatic can be properly defined as an "assault weapon" no matter how many times people like Senator Feinstein say so. And again just because a gun looks like a military weapon (which is how SHE defined them in 1994 NOT the NRA) doesn't make them a military weapon. And except for antiques like Thompson sub machine guns show me guns with 100 r0und clips, and further an instance where a gun using such a clip was used in a criminal act. You can't because honestly, the weight of the clip makes them too heavy for any criminal activity or even if you just want to go shoot something up.

I know facts are inconvenient. Still.

And no, voter ID laws merely asked people to show proof of identity. Something everyone has to do when you pay by credit card, cash a check, board an airplane, drive a car, do most ANYTHING in this society. Prove the class that this posed an undue burden on ANYONE. Again, you can't.

Tom Kyba| 1.15.13 @ 1:57PM

Thanks for the input Soros, but kindergarten level attempts to turn a fact of liberalism into a critique of conservatives only works here if it makers sense. And since everything you've ever posted has been mindless left wing projection, we're not going to respect another example of same.
By the way, some of us have actually read Sowell's books, so blah blah blah with the reverse racism attempt.

1ConservativeUSA| 1.15.13 @ 5:04PM

Hey look everyone, another angry leftist making false arguments and playing the race card!

cowgirl| 1.15.13 @ 9:25PM

This is a well-thought out response to Dr. Sowell's article. But the first question that comes to mind when reading your well-thought out response, is why are you wasting your time on this conservative-whack job site. You should be writing a book about your thoughts and ideas and then work on getting it published. I would assume that it would become a best-seller. After all your acumen is thrilling.

So Purp - With your talents I think you should move on to more intelligent things... Good luck.

Frank Drackman| 1.15.13 @ 8:52AM

"A wholly disproportionate number of Americans killed by guns are Black"???
So what would the appropriate proportion be? And if the actual number of Blacks killed (by guns that somehow have attained sentient qualities) went up, but the proportion went down, you know, as Hispanics start killing peoples at rates proportionate to their increasing numbers, would that be good?
OK, you Jews, Asians, Indians(the Joe Biden kind) Start Shooting each other!!!!!!!!!!

Frank "Thomas Sowell isn't really that smart" Drackman

Moe Blotz| 1.15.13 @ 9:20AM

Does disparaging Dr. Sowell make you smarter, Franky? I am just a dumb old muleskinner, but I have read enough of Dr. Sowell's work to know that relative to their representation in the American population in general, blacks are murdered with guns at a disproportionate rate. If you follow liberal logic, only 16% of gun related murder victims should be black. Dr. Sowell is not advocating for greater statistical representation among murder victims, but laying the blame for the slaughter at the feet of politicians who have removed a viable means of self protection from the black people who live in large cities. The Idiotology of liberal politicians makes them feel good, yet they never have to answer for the consequences. That is Dr. Sowell's focus in his article.

Moe "Thomas Sowell is smarter than you" Blotz

Frank Drackman| 1.15.13 @ 9:49AM

So does skinning mules make you feel more manly? Do the Mules get to have a knife too, or a gun, or one of those creepy captive bolt devices that creepy dude in "No Country for Old Men" used.
Your boyfriend genius Dr.(of what?) Sowell is the one who says other demographic groups need to shoot each other more, not I.

Frank "I like Mules" Drackman

Jack James| 1.15.13 @ 11:24AM

10 seconds of research shows the following.
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in Economics, University of Chicago, 1968
A.M. in Economics, Columbia University, 1959
A.B. in Economics, magna cum laude, Harvard College, 1958

Frank Drackman| 1.15.13 @ 11:40AM

so he's not a "real" doctor

CJW| 1.15.13 @ 7:03PM

Frank
What schools did you graduate and year?

Riff Raff| 1.15.13 @ 12:10PM

"Your boyfriend genius Dr.(of what?) Sowell is the one who says other demographic groups need to shoot each other more, not I."

I'm sorry, but this is a lie. Dr. Sowell neither says nor implies any such thing.

Riff Raff| 1.15.13 @ 11:13AM

"Proportionate" would be a similar percentage to the population as a whole. It is puzzling that you would not understand this.

Drunken Sailor| 1.15.13 @ 11:40AM

He understands it Riff Raff, but then he wouldn't get to post one of his snarky, off the cuff comments.

Usually enjoy them but lately they have been just bitter. Either someone has hijacked his name, he hasn't gotten laid lately, or he just found out his wife is doing his neighbor. Not sure what his issue is lately.

rejoinder in 3...2...1

KennesawJack| 1.15.13 @ 12:05PM

You're right, Sailor. These posts haven't been the old Frank, lately.

Moe Blotz| 1.15.13 @ 1:07PM

That is only because he did not inject his usual phallic imagery into his rant today, KennesawJack.

Al Adab| 1.15.13 @ 5:52PM

D/S,Jack, et al:
Anyone know what has become of Ken, Old Texican? Has he been removed or just dropped out?

KennesawJack| 1.15.13 @ 6:34PM

Al, don't know but, since the debacle on Nov. 6th he has been here only rarely. Hope all is well with him. (Maybe he's busy helping to organize the Texas resisitance!)

Joe D.| 1.15.13 @ 10:14AM

Since their compassion is all that matter, not results why don't they admit the mistake. That way they can now do what works, the opposite, without any pain.

Frank Drackman| 1.15.13 @ 10:40AM

so what would be better?
1: only 100 peoples murdered with guns, but all peoples of color.
2: 1000 peoples murdered, but in exact proportion to their representation in the population (How do you shoot .0001% of an Eskimo, I mean Inupiat??)

Frank "Let the Free Market figure out who gets shot" Drackman

Riff Raff| 1.15.13 @ 11:19AM

What would be better would no murders at all. The point Mr. Sowell is making is that liberal-leftist-socialist-Democrat Party policies have almost completely debased the Black family in America. Blacks in very large numbers (such as in Detriot) live in crime ridden slums, with no families to rely on, and no opportunities to escape. he is generous in believing that Democrat Party policies have created this condition inadvertently, while exhibiting good intentions in wanting to help people. I maintain that Democrats created this condition this deliberately, for political purposes, a policy that has succeeded quite manifestly.

Frank Drackman| 1.15.13 @ 11:47AM

If you were a Black Woman would you want to marry your typical Black Male?? OK, not really sure why they haven't figured out the economics of Birth Control, but they're only in their 2d Century of freedom, they'll figure it out eventually.

Dr. Frank Doctor Drackman Doctor M.D.(did I tell you I'm a (real) Doctor?)

Riff Raff| 1.15.13 @ 12:13PM

This is a "chicken or egg" comparison. Single mothers being PAID by the government to raise boys without fathers is the cause of this. That subsequent generations of Black males are not marriage worthy is the result, and the circle repeats.
No, you did not tell me and I do not care.

Frank Drackman| 1.15.13 @ 1:34PM

1:So would the NBA be better with 78% White Players?(proportion from 2010 Census)
B:Would the NHL be better with 13% Afro-American Players? Umm, it'd be funny as hell actually, bad example.
3: And have you kept up with Chess lately? , not many Native Americans(Why not?)
d: And since its 43-1 in the Presidential Game, do we have to have a Black President win for the next 6 elections?(probably will anyway)
4: Did you know Vermont hasn't had a Black Governor in over 200 years?? Damn Racists.

Frank "Color Blind, No really, I have Red/Green Colorblindness" Drackman

Dave Williams| 1.15.13 @ 1:50PM

...the reason the scroll-down feature was invented...

Frank Drackman| 1.15.13 @ 1:57PM

Your comment? No, I think it was around before that.

Dave Williams| 1.15.13 @ 1:51PM

That would be Perp the Twerp...sorry my comment ended up in the wrong place.

Frank Drackman| 1.15.13 @ 1:58PM

Umm I was gonna say then you're not a dumbass, but I guess you just proved you are...
Do you say "Duh............" alot?

Frank

Riff Raff| 1.15.13 @ 6:43PM

Apparently, you say "umm..." a lot.

1ConservativeUSA| 1.15.13 @ 4:57PM

It is truly a sad day for America, and for liberty, when Barack Obama's voice is louder than Mr. Sowell's.

CHAUSSURES FEMME AIR MAX LTD | 1.16.13 @ 4:03AM

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