Utopia Versus Freedom (Thomas Sowell)

Jewish World Review ^ | August 4, 2009 | Thomas Sowell

[EternalVigilance]

Nice pic of the socialists’ “new” America.

[a fool in paradise]

Socialism is SLAVERY to the State.

It takes socialists YEARS to cast off their chains.

And as the shackles are coming off Eastern Europe and even France, England, etc., they are boggled that we are going down the same failed road. And if it hadn’t been for America holding out, some may never have been freed.

[allmendream]

LOL. That you are amazed that a University Professor knows and uses correct English is a good indication how low the position of University Professor has sunk. (Gates, Churchill, Ayers, Dorne, etc ad nauseum)

[Tolik]

Thomas Sowell :

"Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom." We have heard that many times. What is also the price of freedom is the toleration of imperfections. If everything that is wrong with the world becomes a reason to turn more power over to some political savior, then freedom is going to erode away, while we are mindlessly repeating the catchwords of the hour, whether "change," "universal health care" or "social justice."

If we can be so easily stampeded by rhetoric that neither the public nor the Congress can be bothered to read, much less analyze, bills making massive changes in medical care, then do not be surprised when life and death decisions about you or your family are taken out of your hands-- and out of the hands of your doctor-- and transferred to bureaucrats in Washington.

Let's go back to square one. The universe was not made to our specifications. Nor were human beings. So there is nothing surprising in the fact that we are dissatisfied with many things at many times. The big question is whether we are prepared to follow any politician who claims to be able to "solve" our "problem."

If we are, then there will be a never ending series of "solutions," each causing new problems calling for still more "solutions." ...

... There are still some voices of sanity today, echoing what Edmund Burke said long ago. "The study of human institutions is always a search for the most tolerable imperfections," according to Prof. Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago. If you cannot tolerate imperfections, be prepared to kiss your freedom goodbye

Nailed It!

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[TheOldLady]

LOL! I’m not amazed about Dr. Sowell’s command of the language. As usual, I’m pleased at not being distracted from his message by bad grammar as is the case with so many other writers and speakers. To a pedantic old proofreader, it can be painful.

As far as the other “professors” you mentioned, well...

[the OlLine Rebel]

“I’m pleased at not being distracted from his message by bad grammar as is the case with so many other writers and speakers.”

And this is what the morons who post on all these fora on the Internet don’t understand. They get so mad when their poor spelling/grammar/punctuation is pointed out, and ironically complain that one should be paying attention to the point of the (bad) post!

[TheOldLady]

Well, posters aren’t professionals. Sometimes we misspell words like gubmint and obambi and zer0 to make a point. Sometimes getting one’s thoughts out quickly precludes care about proofreading or being correct. And there are plenty of people with good thoughts and ideas who hated English class (teacher’s fault) and just don’t know how to construct the sentences of their thoughts. That’s not important. We usually know what they mean. And you’re right. They do get very insulted from being embarrassed. I tried PMing one, but she was very nasty back to me. I gave up.

No, I’m talking about newspapers and pundits and bloggers and others who should have editors and who should not rely totally on spell check.

It’s an odd day, reading my daily newspaper, when I don’t find an unintelligible or unintentionally humorous article title or a story that doesn’t make sense because of the syntax of the writer. Hubby and I laugh over it, but it still distracts from the story.

[Sherman Logan]

Mine.

[wjcsux]

Thomas Sowell gives us great quotes for taglines. Nice one.

[the OlLine Rebel]

I agree totally. I came of age just as we were getting word processors. And yes, as a youngster/teen I used to read political and historical magazines and many historical-type books, especially.

I swear since PCs took over, everyone - including those who publish - has become illiterate. You are absolutely correct about all the errors in “learned” journalistic publications. When I was a teen, I NEVER stumbled over so many errors as I do now.