Thomas Sowell Wisdom

It is amazing how many people seem to think that the government exists to turn their prejudices into laws.

I am sick and tired of third party busybodies trying to tell everybody how to run their business or live their lives.

People have a right to their own cultures — even Americans. Those who come here and say that they cannot follow some of our laws that conflict with their culture are free to leave.

The biggest difference between people is between those who are trying to do the right thing — whether or not they succeed — and those for whom the only question is how much they think they can get away with.

Trying to explain inequality is like trying to explain why people don’t flap their arms and fly. There was never any reason to expect people to fly and there was never any reason to expect people’s performances to be equal, when there are innumerable influences at work differently for each individual and group.

To get their way, the elites must erode or dismantle the Constitution, bit by bit, in one way or another. What that means is that they must dismantle America.

It is no coincidence that those who imagine themselves so much wiser and nobler than the rest of us should be in the forefront of those who seek to erode Constitutional restrictions on the arbitrary powers of government. How can our betters impose their superior wisdom and virtue on us, when the Constitution gets in the way at every turn, with all its provisions to safeguard a system based on a self-governing people?

The agenda has been for our betters to decide among themselves which Constitutional safeguards against arbitrary government power should be disregarded, in the name of meeting “the needs of the times” – as they choose to define those needs.

It was the Progressives of a hundred years ago who began saying that the Constitution needed to be subordinated to whatever they chose to call “the needs of the times.” Nor were they content to say that the Constitution needed more amendments, for that would have meant that the much disdained masses would have something to say about whether, or what kind, of amendments were needed.

While the kings of old have faded into the mists of history, the principle of the divine rights of kings to impose whatever they wish on the masses lives on today in the rampaging presumptions of those who consider themselves anointed to impose their notions on others.

The Constitution was not only a challenge to the despotic governments of its time, it has been a continuing challenge – to this day – to all those who think that ordinary people should be ruled by their betters, whether an elite of blood, or of books or of whatever else gives people a puffed-up sense of importance.

Whether on college campuses or among nations on the world stage, if the battle comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are bound to win.

when nobody is willing to defend civilized standards, the barbarians win.

If you believe in equal rights, then what do “women’s rights,” “gay rights,” etc., mean? Either they are redundant or they are violations of the principle of equal rights for all.

Barbarians with electronic devices are still barbarians.

If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.

Many liberals who consider themselves friends or allies of blacks are usually friends or allies of those particular blacks who are doing wrong things, often at the expense of other blacks.

Learned scholars still debate the reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. Learned scholars of the future, looking back on our decline and fall, may simply be baffled as to how we could have been so stupid.

The biggest difference between people is between those who are trying to do the right thing — whether or not they succeed — and those for whom the only question is how much they think they can get away with.

Trying to explain inequality is like trying to explain why people don’t flap their arms and fly. There was never any reason to expect people to fly and there was never any reason to expect people’s performances to be equal, when there are innumerable influences at work differently for each individual and group.

Some of the most emotionally powerful words are undefined, such as "social justice," "a living wage," "price gouging" or a "fragile" environment, for example. Such terms are especially valuable to politicians during an election year, for these terms can attract the votes of people who mean very different-- and even mutually contradictory-- things when they use these words.