Posted on 09/21/2009 9:05:47 PM PDT by jazusamo
“they want to portray universal healthcare proponents as being up against the evil corporate interests of big pharma and big insurance. Forget the fact that they are on board.”
- - - or that big government is the most evil monster of them all.
BUMP for tonight.
bookmark
Thanks, jaz, for the pings! I’d hate to miss anything Dr. Sowell writes. These days, he’s an island of sanity in the cesspool of political thinking.
From the beginning, those who fled other countries and came to America met with challenges and hardship. They wanted freedom and opportunity, and they worked hard, and, as Sowell says, "made the most of their possibilities."
Yesterday, quite by accident, I came across a remarkable statement in a 1785 letter from John Dunlap in Philadelphia at the web site of PRONI, The Public Records of Northern Ireland - http://www.proni.gov.uk/emigration_series_-_01_-_emigration_to_the_u.s.a.pdf - note the underlined passage.
Of special note are the words of Dunlap, who was responsible for the printing of the Declaration of Independence and wrote on 12 May 1785 to his brother-in-law, Robert Rutherford, in Strabane, Co. Tyrone, extolling the advantages of the New World, First, he referred to his brother, James Dunlap, who was likewise in America:
"... my brother James left this (sic) for Kentucky a few weeks ago; I expect him back in the summer; then perhaps he may take a trip to Ireland. The account he gives of the soil is pleasing but the difficulty of going to it from this is great; indeed the distance is not less than a thousand miles. I was there last year and must confess that although the journey is a difficult one I did not begrudge the time and labour it cost me. We are told the parliament of Ireland means to lay restrictions on those who want to come from that country to this; time will tell whether or no this will answer the purpose they intend. People with a family advanced in life find great difficulties in emigration but the young men of Ireland who wish to be free and happy should leave it and come here as quick as possible; there is no place in the world where a man meets so rich a reward for good conduct and industry as in America ... "
Also excerpted from the PRONI site is the following observation from the DUNLAP/DELAP PAPERS Introduction at: http://www.proni.gov.uk/introduction__dunlap_delap_t1336.pdf
"John Dunlap's is not an untypical life story of many who 'went west' from County Tyrone in the 18th century to make a new life and create a new country to which they then encouraged and assisted others to migrate. One went and succeeded and therefore others followed. By the time he died, on 27 November 1812, aged 66, John Dunlap had amassed a large fortune and had subscribed £4,000 in 1780 to the National Bank formed to supply the American Army, and he held 98,000 acres in Virginia and the adjoining counties of Kentucky. He also owned the land on which Utica, Ohio, stands.
"He had played his part in military affairs during the War of Independence, as a founder in 1774 of the 1st Troop of Philadelphia City Cavalry; as a cornet he accompanied this command in the campaign of 1776-1777, taking part in actions at Princeton and Trenton. After the war, from 1789 to 1792, he was a member of the Common Council of Philadelphia. In 1812 he was buried at Christ Church, Philadelphia.
"The site of his birth at Meetinghouse Street, Strabane, is marked by a plaque erected by Strabane Urban District Council in 1965."
Yes, the Uncle Tom thing has undoubtedly helped to keep untold numbers from bettering themselves. It’s a crying shame, they could have learned much by those setting the example.
Reading Thomas Sowell is like eating chocolate cake.
Excellent point and something that applies to everyone all through life, if it was in fact practiced we’d have fewer prima donnas and more truly productive people..
Well said. With Obama you learn fast he can dance around the subject but convince some he’s a genius. Hah!
Great article!
Very interesting, thanks.
But that still doesn’t count in the ‘hood.
He must’ve had some massive luck, you know.
Yes, we can’t have those downtrodden blacks from days of yore going against the grain and undermining modern blacks’ fantasy of the world as evil and themselves as victims.
Agreed, and he says so but some people tend to make their own luck to a degree and I believe he’s one of them.
The most disempowering thing in the universe is buying the victim lie.
Sowell BTT. He sets us up in this one and then lowers the boom. Great writer.
True of Sowell as a writer, too.But he sure could knock the cover off the ball.
Yeah - but who has ever accused Sowell of writing books slowly? He's written over 40 of them now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.