Taking America for Granted (Thomas Sowell)

Townhall.com ^ | July 4, 2007 | Thomas Sowell

[jazusamo]

*PING*
Thomas Sowell

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[rawcatslyentist]

Amen!!!!

TS is an inspirational font of optimism! Thank You!!!!

[dcwusmc]

Just WOW!!!

[jazusamo]

Another great piece by Dr. Sowell!

[TAdams8591]

"We all have a tendency to take for granted what we are used to, and to regard it as somehow natural or automatic -- and to be unduly impressed by what is unusual. Too many Americans take the United States for granted and are too easily impressed by what people in other countries say and do."

The above is quite profound, as is this entire essay, and one of Sowell's finer articles. Thank you for the ping.

[jazusamo]

Agreed and you’re most welcome.

[GOP_Raider]

History is full of nations and even whole civilizations that have fallen from the heights to destitution and disintegration. The Roman Empire is a classic example, but the great ancient Chinese dynasties, the Ottoman Empire and many others have met the same fate. These were not just political "changes." They were historic catastrophes from which whole peoples did not recover for centuries. It has been estimated that it was a thousand years before Europeans again achieved as high a standard of living as they had in Roman times. The Dark Ages were called dark for a reason.

This is the paragraph that stood out to me. For my money, a columnist can't go wrong with a very astute historical reference like this. The whole "those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it" kind of thing.

[Paladin2]

"those Supreme Court justices who cite foreign laws when making decisions about American law"

The US should adopt Mexican immigration laws.

[jazusamo]

Yes, Dr. Sowell is good at simple but very effective analogies, he makes people understand.

[TAdams8591]

Sadly, America has already repeated many of histories mistakes.

[jazusamo]

It would sure help the situation but the bleeding hearts would scream bloody murder.

[TAdams8591]

That’s “history’s.”

[xJones]

Yet throughout our educational system, our media, and in politics, slavery is incessantly presented as if it were something peculiar to black and white Americans.

That is exactly the view that is presented to American school children, and while slavery is totally wrong, it was a world-wide practice for thousands of years. Americans didn't invent it, and black African slave traders were the ones that sold black Africans into captivity in North and South America, although we don't talk about that.

Slavery (serfdom) was abolished in Russia by Tsar Alexander II in 1861, only two years before Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. And 90% of the Russian population were white serfs owned by white landowners. The British abolished slavery in 1833, less than 200 years ago, throughout their empire.

Slavery still exists today in parts of Africa, but this is in Muslim dominated countries so nobody says anything about that either.

[george76]

Thanks for the ping.

If the muzzies win this global war, our slide will be much longer than 1000 years.

[Still Thinking]

Yeah, the one time that process would work well and in that instance we don’t use it.

[jazusamo]

Thanks for your post. I don’t know much about slavery other than what took place in America. From what little I have read about it now gave me the impression the only places it exists is muslim dominated countries, like you say.

[redhead]

Oh, he is SOOO good! I love his articles. Thank you. Happy Independence Day!

[jazusamo]

I shudder to even think about losing it, it’s not an option.

[jazusamo]

I agree, redhead and Happy Independence Day to you too!