A Racial Revolution? (Thomas Sowell)

Creators Syndicate ^ | May 18, 2012 | Thomas Sowell

[jazusamo]

Now that census data show — for the first time in American history — the number of white babies born exceeded by the number of babies born to non-white minorities the question is: What does this mean for the future of American society? Politically, it means that minorities who traditionally vote overwhelmingly for Democrats can ensure that the country veers ever further to the left over the years, making America more like the welfare states of Europe, whose unsustainable spending led ultimately to finical crises and widespread riots. But this is not strictly a matter of whites versus non-whites. Jews vote consistently, and almost as overwhelmingly, for Democrats as blacks do. Moreover, Asian Americans are by no means as likely as other non-whites to vote for the class warfare, tax and spend agenda of the Democrats. Yet when all is said and done, the future political direction of the country seems painfully clear for these demographic trends, unless something happens to change the current correlation between race and political party affiliation. Moreover, even that may not be enough. Even if Republicans can siphon off enough votes from groups that normally vote for Democrats to keep the two-party system alive, the preservation of the Republican Party is a trivial issue compared to the preservation of American society. If Republican politicians save themselves by becoming Democrats under a different label — and appeal to minorities as minorities, rather than as Americans — the same policies and attitudes will have the same destructive effect on the American economy and society. Refusing to cut back on entitlement spending, for example, means that the current generation can continue to enjoy government-subsidized amenities, at the expense of future generations who can be left to struggle to get necessities, after the money runs out and government's promises can no longer be kept. The growth of ever bigger and even more intrusive government means that the freedom, for which generations of Americans have fought and died on battlefields, around the world can be slowly but steadily lost within our own country. Painful as such outcomes can be the dangers do not end there. A continuation of the current political tendency to take away the money required for national defense, and spend it instead on handouts that will win votes, means that our enemies around the world will have golden opportunities at our expense. Again, the dangers may not be immediate. But they can be catastrophic when they catch up with us — and catch us unprepared. We recovered from Pearl Harbor at enormous cost, including the needless deaths of American soldiers, fighting for their lives with obsolete military equipment against enemies with state of the art weapons. But even such sacrifices which brought us time to catch up during the Second World War, may not even be enough in a nuclear age. What can be done now, to head off the many dangers in our current political policies and attitudes? There is not much we can do about demographic trends. But the changing composition of the American population is not, in itself, the fundamental danger. After all, vast millions of immigrants crossed the Atlantic for generations on end, and began the process of becoming Americans. Millions of black people likewise began that process after being set free. Demography is not destiny. But the history of Balkanized and polarized societies in the 20th century is a history of horrors that we dare not ignore. We are not at that terrible point yet. But that is the direction in which we are headed, under the spell of magic words like "multiculturalism" and "diversity," which have become substitutes for thoughts, even among those who pride themselves on being "thinking people." Our whole educational system, from the elementary schools to the universities, is permeated with ideologies of group grievances and resentments, painting each group into the corner of its own separate subculture, instead of drawing them into the mainstream of the American culture that made this the greatest nation on earth. Unless the fashionable Balkanization is stopped, demography can become destiny — and a tragedy for all.

[jazusamo]

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A Cynical Process: Part II

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[rmlew]

Nothing Sowell suggests will stop the Balkanization. He speaks economics, but Balkanization is about ethnicity. The only way to stop Balkanization is to dramatically reduce immigration, end the racial spoils system (affirmative action, ethnic studies, diversity commissars), and replace the suicide cult of muliticulturalism with Americanization.
This day has been warned since 1991. There is no more time to dilly dally.

[cubreporter]

Brilliant man with common sense.

[MHGinTN]

When Doctor Sowell writes, I read. Thanks for the ping. A man of wisdom is a precious thing, at least for the time being.

[SharpRightTurn]

“Refusing to cut back on entitlement spending, for example, means that the current generation can continue to enjoy government-subsidized amenities, at the expense of future generations who can be left to struggle to get necessities, after the money runs out and government’s promises can no longer be kept.”

Well said, Dr.Sowell. However, Boehner and McConnell and their fellow noodle-spined buddies don’t seem to be willing to do anything about that. Instead, its “let the good times roll and let the congress critters in office when it all comes crashing down worry about that.”

Commies on the one hand, shameless wimps on the other.

May the Lord help us.

[jazusamo]

Dr. Sowell really is a pleasure to read, he's succinct and dead on the money 99% or more of the time.

[jazusamo]

Please bump the Freepathon or click above and donate or become a monthly donor!

[Intolerant in NJ]

Now that census data show — for the first time in American history — the number of white babies born exceeded by the number of babies born to non-white minorities the question is: What does this mean for the future of American society?...Disaster - approximately 25% of the white babies are born out of wedlock - about 40% of the hispanics are out of wedlock, and about 70% of blacks babies are illegitimate - I hear Costa Rica is a nice place to live.....

[WackySam]

Demography is not destiny.

In this case, I think it is.

[muawiyah]

Back to basic political theory. The United States is organized into a Republic composed of single-member districts, each one of which uses first past the post vote counting techniques to determine who the winners are in democratically conducted elections.

When you use that system you will ultimately need 50%+1 vote to win elections. That necessarily forces the losers into coalitions that may well yield up the 50%+1 vote for their benefit.

The consequence for America is that our elections tend to be close calls ~ with the only landslides at the Congressional level occuring near the most recent redistricting.

It really doesn't matter what the ethnic make up of the population is, by hook or crook, neighborhood by neighborhood, income level by income level, educational attainment, or marital status ~ the American people inside any particular form of single-member district will end up creating TWO poles of political coalition.

We call those poles Democrats and Republicans today and we've had different names for them in the past.

Dr. Sowell errs in thinking this is a zero sum game with a majority that will always simply vote for more goodies.

Actually, what happens is SOMEONE in that majority gets the idea they aren't getting all they deserve, and their faction will simply gravitate to the other pole ~ and they may win. Or, they may lose.

Look at gun laws. For a while the Leftwingtards had common agreement in both parties to control guns lest somebody (usually themselves) get shot! So, the NRA and other gun users and supporters gravitated to the Republican pole. Voila, they won elections and now gun control ideas are seen as out of fashion and possibly symptomatic of severe mental illness. Their proponents seem totally dazzled by the idea they were totally hornswaggled out of their dominance.

Let's say we are dealing with just "who gets the goodies". Currently the Democrats are top dog on the snatch and grab circuit, but what if the advantage was to the implementation of a totally new energy device that you could stuff with dirt and let run for 20 years without tending ~ it would power everything.

The one drawback would be the minute production of beta-particles which might get loose (in an accident) and kill everybody and burn down your house.

Obviously the Democrats would oppose such a marvelous new device. I am sure that if blacks and hispanics knew that the only way they could have these machines installed in their homes would be to vote for Republicans, they would do so in overwhelming numbers.

The Democrats would end up standing around with that crazed look they now have over the gun control question!

[Logical me]

Thomas is right on. This is why I feel America may never recover. This communists King Obama and his empire has ripped a huge hole in our Constitution and has brought America to its knees. He might get another term since his machine and ignorant Americans just might keep him. Another four will destroy so much that it will never come back without a civil war.

[loveliberty2]

Thank you for sharing another of Dr. Sowell's gems of wisdom.

Please visit this thread and read my Post #40 which includes an excerpt from a Centennial Thanksgiving message delivered by another great Black thinker, minister, historian and defender of America's founding ideas.

At the point when that message was delivered, the beginnings of the so-called "progressive" liberal effort to "transform" America from its foundations in liberty had begun, and Rev. Arnett, the writer, outlines what he calls "The Dangers to our Nation."

Those "dangers" we have seen played out in recent decades and in full bloom at the present time.

[SharpRightTurn]

“Dr. Sowell errs in thinking this is a zero sum game with a majority that will always simply vote for more goodies.”

He may be wrong. But it appears to me he is correct. For 75 years the country has become less free, with more people sucking off the government teat, fewer people paying the cost of government, coupled with mass immigration of people who, as Sowell points out, are attracted to “free” government services. It’s not a promising trajectory.

[muawiyah]

1913 ~ more than 75 years ago ~ they imposed the federal personal income tax on people.

That misbegotten GOP-e tax system gave the politicians all the money they needed to take everything away from everybody.

It's time to rescind the 16th amendment.

[Clintonfatigued]

More Americans are putting their children in private schools and even homeschooling. Will that help matters?

[SharpRightTurn]

“It’s time to rescind the 16th amendment.”

I agree.

1913 was not a good year.

I would be all for repealing the 17th also.

[rmlew]

More Americans are putting their children in private schools and even homeschooling. Will that help matters?
No. The left is totalitarian. They will not allow refuges from their commissars. Assuming that home schooling is allowed (and it is already imperiled in Europe), children will still have to pass certain standardized tests. Guess who chooses the source material.

[FreedomPoster]

Ping; this deserves a CWII ping.

Sowell sees where things are heading quite clearly. Either we start teaching people to be Americans again, which doesn’t depend on skin color or other ethnicity, or we very much run the risk of much future ugliness.

[PapaBear3625]

The high minority birth rate is enabled by high per-child welfare payments.

When we can no longer afford such payments, and every welfare mom suddenly has to support her own children from what she herself can earn -- what happens to minority birthrate then?

[rockinqsranch]

Another good one by Dr. Sowell, and he’s so right on the mark. Thanks for the ping.

[lentulusgracchus]

The only way to stop Balkanization is to dramatically reduce immigration, end the racial spoils system (affirmative action, ethnic studies, diversity commissars), and replace the suicide cult of muliticulturalism with Americanization.

Correct. That, and reversing the migratory flow, and reversing the trend toward fatherlessness and predatory-male behavior in the black community, and replacing it with a hearty chunk of Bookerism: Trades, schooling, practical manual education for those who've screwed the dog academically, for instance. For those who have not, protection from the thug culture of bullying "Oreos" and "tan men" for being "too white" if they attend night school or high school and try to achieve. The strivers need air cover; they need practical help right now.

Jugging the layabouts and criminals in vast, gigantic new prisons to stop the revolving door is a first step.

[onyx]

I wish him to live 120 happy, healthy years and I so pray!

[43north]

“...every welfare mom suddenly has to support her own children from what she herself can earn — what happens to minority birthrate then?”

It will continue to increase as will the fatality rate of minority infants. There is no sense of responsibility or logic involved here.

[GOPJ]

A continuation of the current political tendency to take away the money required for national defense, and spend it instead on handouts that will win votes, means that our enemies around the world will have golden opportunities at our expense.

It's just a question of time...

[GOPJ]

Our whole educational system, from the elementary schools to the universities, is permeated with ideologies of group grievances and resentments, painting each group into the corner of its own separate subculture...

[jazusamo]

I'm 100% with you FRiend. In this day and age we need Dr. Sowell’s wisdom for the sake of our country.

[onyx]

Ineed, now more than ever.

[onyx]

Ineed, now, more than ever.

[Monorprise]

You are mistaken, the problem is raw birth rates, whites in Europe and most of the USA are having less than 2.1 children per woman that is less than is required to simply sustain our the current numbers.

People are not having “large” families anymore. indeed the very definition of a “large” family is shrinking to what is historically a ridiculesly small family.

Our modern culture and values is leading to our extinction as a race.
People should be having 5 children when in fact their just barely having 2.

[Road Glide]

“When we can no longer afford such payments, and every welfare mom suddenly has to support her own children from what she herself can earn — what happens to minority birthrate then?”

It plummets, of course.

But you better have a thick skin (to ignore the cries of hungry women and children), and plenty of bullets (to fight off the healthy ones)!

By the way, you are correct, the only way to “solve” the welfare mom and illegitimacy problem is to cut them off. But a polite society will never do this, because it cannot stomach the consequences.

Best regards,
- Glide

[aquila48]

“He speaks economics, but Balkanization is about ethnicity.”

I have to disagree. We’ve had many ethnic groups for most of our history - English, Irish, German, Italian Spanish, Chinese, Japanese... you name it they’ve come here. Balkanization was never a significant problem until recently, until leftist ideas such as multicult replaced the “melting pot”.

[dsc]

“In this case, I think it is.”

If we remember what Yamamoto Isoroku said, our time will come.

[dsc]

“Our modern culture and values are leading to our extinction as a race. People should be having 5 children, when in fact they’re just barely having 2.”

Absolutely correct. Japan gives a family about $3,000 for having a baby. However, not so long ago a government official was pilloried for proposing cash rewards to Japanese women for having babies.

Overpopulation is as big a myth as global warming. Have babies. My wife and I have six, and it’s been the greatest joy in my life.

[gortklattu]

The way I read it, racial Balkanization is immediately followed by its economic effects; the two are hitched together. If our welfare programs were to disappear, would the Balkanization? You have already answered that question.

I am now reading Thomas Sowell’s “Vision of the Anointed.” It is a great read. If you don’t have the time to read the whole book, the first two chapters sets a great foundation.

[gortklattu]

Man who fathered 30 children needs help with child support

A good example of Balkanization

[PapaBear3625]

But you better have a thick skin (to ignore the cries of hungry women and children), and plenty of bullets (to fight off the healthy ones)!

It's not necessary to have them starve. It's just necessary to have the level of benefits reduced, and work requirements increased, to the point where underclass women no longer see the lifestyle as being viable.

And if the underclass initiates violence when the cupboards are bare, then they will find out just how much stocking up the middle class has done.

[PapaBear3625]

Absolutely correct. Japan gives a family about $3,000 for having a baby. However, not so long ago a government official was pilloried for proposing cash rewards to Japanese women for having babies.

$3K will motivate the underclass to have babies, but won't be enough for the upper-middle. It takes a LOT to raise a middle-class kid by middle-class standards.

Better would be to have each kid take off 10% of your tax liability (up to some maximum, like 5). The Left would scream that this was "regressive", though.

[muawiyah]

So what ~ my grandmother, whose people had been in America since the early 1600s, had 10 kids. They were very poor but they had a cow in a small barn. There was no welfare.

My grandfather's people had arrived naked and in chains in what became Alexandria Virginia ~ they were tossed into the Potomac ~ no planks for them to walk down.

That was about 1602.

WIthin months they'd clothed themselves, manufactured firearms and made the long march around the Potomac to the New and ended up in Alexander County where they created a new civilization dedicated to American independence.

Are people who arrived at later times less capable?

[muawiyah]

1702 ~ not 1602. That’s the other side, but that was 1598.

[BRL]

I like Sowell, but this article is wishy washy.

[PapaBear3625]

Are people who arrived at later times less capable?

Two hundred years ago, most people had to work hard to just survive. There was very little left over to help anybody else -- attempting to relieve the hunger of strangers just meant that your own family went hungry.

Today, many people are starving, or dying for lack of medicine in the Third World. I could probably save a good number of those people if I was willing to have my kids not go to college as a result. I am not so willing.

I am fully aware that my attitude means that a number of people there will die. I am not willing to save them at the cost of impoverishing my own. I think a majority feel the same way, although they may choose not to think about it.

We are now standing at a point where we have to choose whether to impoverish our own families, or let the underclass die. When it comes down to that naked choice, I think most people will choose not to impoverish their own.

[muawiyah]

Entirely too gloom and doom. I think the third-worlders can handle their own affairs though. And even here, today’s people are as capable as folks ever were, and certainly don’t need government’s control to know which way to pee!

[BradyLS]

If Republican politicians save themselves by becoming Democrats under a different label — and appeal to minorities as minorities, rather than as Americans — the same policies and attitudes will have the same destructive effect on the American economy and society.

I agree. RINO is no longer the correct acronym. But DIABN (Democrat In All But Name) just doesn't trip off the tongue the same way.

[oldbrowser]

Demography is not destiny.

What this tells me is that we had better get busy and start educating minorities on conservatism and the constitution.
A renaissance can happen in one generation. First step get control of the government. Step two is to reform the education system.

We are in a cultural war and we are losing because the marxists are intent on destroying us and we are intent on ignoring them.

[BradyLS]

He pays child support???

I'm sure the tax-payers are contributing more than their fair share for "child support."

[Nowhere Man]

Nothing Sowell suggests will stop the Balkanization. He speaks economics, but Balkanization is about ethnicity. The only way to stop Balkanization is to dramatically reduce immigration, end the racial spoils system (affirmative action, ethnic studies, diversity commissars), and replace the suicide cult of muliticulturalism with Americanization. This day has been warned since 1991. There is no more time to dilly dally.

My father, mother and grandfather saw this coming as far back as the 1970's.

[Nowhere Man]

Thomas is right on. This is why I feel America may never recover. This communists King Obama and his empire has ripped a huge hole in our Constitution and has brought America to its knees. He might get another term since his machine and ignorant Americans just might keep him. Another four will destroy so much that it will never come back without a civil war.

I dearly pray and hope it does not come down to that. I hate to spend the rest of middle age humping an M1 Garand in the woods. B-P Still, I feel like I'm a bystander, watching a car go down a hill with no brakes, yet, I'm unable to stop it. B-(

[WashingtonSource]

Population trends also do not continue forever. For example, birth rates in Latin America are plummeting and thus, less pressue for Mexicans and others to emigrate to the United States. Also, Mexicans and other Latin Americans are going back home because there are no jobs here. The biggest challenge is uncontrolled immigration, which can be brought under control.

If Hispanic immigraiton drops dramatically it will lead to more assimiluation by Hispanics who may come to value more highly American values. There’s also the great success story for people from Indian who are becoming patriotic Americans. So, it is not entirely at negative story.

Also, these are desperate times and that means that white married couples are delaying haing children, while other white young people are delaying getting married. Presumably there will be a catch up later as postponed children are born.

Also, we should end or immigraiton policies that discriminate against Europe and end immigraiton from most third-world hel holes — especially Muslim ones.

[mc5cents]

Wishy washy

NOT wishy washy