By Thomas Sowell
Tuesday, May 03, 2016
One of the problems with being a pessimist is that you
can never celebrate when you are proven right.
If what you want from politicians are quick and easy
answers, someone is sure to supply them, regardless of which party you follow.
History can tell you where quick and easy answers lead. But, if you don’t want
to bother reading history, you can just wait and relive its catastrophes.
What is “economic power”? What can Bill Gates stop you
from doing?
I don’t understand how people who cannot predict the
weather five days in advance can predict the climate decades from now.
One of history’s painful ironies is how often people on
the brink of disaster have been preoccupied with trivialities. With a nuclear
Iran with intercontinental missiles looming on the horizon, our intelligentsia
are preoccupied with calling achievements “privilege” and playing other word
games.
Of life’s many surprises, encountering an old flame,
years later, is in a class by itself.
Some people seem to think that Donald Trump has great
abilities because he is a billionaire. But being born rich and getter richer is
not exactly a Horatio Alger miracle.
Of all the disheartening signs of the utter ignorance of
so many American college students, nothing so completely disheartened me as
seeing on television a black college student who did not know what the Civil
War was about. Fifty years ago, it would have been virtually impossible to find
a black adult, with even an elementary-school education, who did not know what
the Civil War was about.
Global warming, due to greenhouse gasses, is the latest
in a long series of one-factor theories about a multi-factor world. Such
theories have often enjoyed great popularity, despite how often they have
turned out to be wrong.
One of the most richly rewarded skills in politics is the
ability to make self-interest sound like idealism. Nowhere is this tactic more
successful than in so-called “campaign-finance-reform” laws — spending
restrictions that prevent challenger candidates from buying enough publicity to
offset the free publicity that incumbents get from the media.
At one time, it seemed as if the free world had defeated
the world of totalitarian dictatorships twice — first the Nazis and then the Communists.
But, with the slow but steady expansion of government control over our lives
and the spread of the idea that people who deny “climate change” should be
punished as criminals, it seems as if totalitarianism may be winning, after
all.
People who want to redistribute wealth often
misunderstand the nature and causes of wealth. Tangible wealth can be
confiscated, but you cannot confiscate the knowledge that produced that wealth.
Countries that confiscated the wealth of some groups and expelled them,
destitute, have often seen the economy collapse, while the expelled people
became prosperous again elsewhere.
Some people think that Ted Cruz would not have as good a
chance against Hillary Clinton as would Donald Trump. They say that Cruz does
not have a sparkling style of speaking. But, after months of hearing childish
insults from Trump, the public may be ready for some serious adult talk by
someone with substance, who can cut right through Hillary’s shallow evasions.
To me, beautiful music is whatever music makes you glad
to be a human being, whether it is “Musetta’s Waltz” from La Boheme or “Muskrat Ramble” from New Orleans. Much of what passes
for music today makes me wish that, if there is such a thing as reincarnation,
I can come back as a dolphin.
Republican leaders seem to be worried that Donald Trump
will get the nomination and lose the election. Those of us who are not
Republicans should worry that Trump will get the nomination and win the
election. After all, the fate of the country is a lot more important than the
fate of a political party — and in far greater danger.
As this country continues to degenerate, we hope that it
never reaches the desperate stage where only a military coup can rescue it from
catastrophes created by feckless politicians. But, if that day ever arrives, we
can only hope that the military will do their duty and step in. It is one of
the few institutions dedicated to something besides individual self-interest.
No comments:
Post a Comment