Trump and Blacks (Thomas Sowell)

RCP ^ | Thomas Sowell

[RoosterRedux]

Who would have thought that Donald Trump, of all people, would be addressing the fact that the black community suffers the most from a breakdown of law and order? But sanity on racial issues is sufficiently rare that it must be welcomed, from whatever source it comes.

When establishment Republicans have addressed the problems of blacks at all, it has too often been in terms of what earmarked benefits can be offered in exchange for their votes. And there was very little that Republicans could offer to compete with the Democrats' whole universe of welfare state earmarks.

Law and order, however, is not an earmarked benefit for any special group. It is a policy for all that is especially needed by law-abiding blacks, who are the principal victims of those who are not law-abiding.

Education is another area where something that is needed by all segments of the population is especially needed by blacks and other low-income minorities. In other words, here again there is no need for a divisive policy of earmarked benefits, in order to attract new voters into a "big tent."

No matter what policy Republicans follow, they are not going to win a majority of the black votes this year, nor perhaps even this decade.

Nor is that necessary. Just an erosion of the Democrats' monopoly of the black votes can benefit both Republicans and the black community, who are currently taken for granted by the Democrats. Republicans may also get more white votes if they are no longer seen by some as racists.

[V K Lee]

Do remember Sowell being one of the first detractors (along the lines of Jonah G, George W, M Reagan), when DJT first announced. It was shocking to say the least, that he saw no room for Mr. Trump on the candidate stage. Since that time, I've little respect for the man...only one of many whose horn no longer blows sweet notes.

Trump must TRiUMPh

[jazusamo]

*PING*
Thomas Sowell

[Sir Napsalot]

Yes, I agree.

I get it, that Sowell doesn’t like Trump at all, it can’t be forced.

The first paragraph mentioned Trump, with faint praise, then the whole article talks about ‘generic Republican politicians’ this or that.

So don’t style your article title “Trump and Blacks”

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Maybe Prof. Sowell will ultimately be able to vote for Trump. One step at a time.

[jazusamo]

Hopefully so, this is a small step in the right direction.

[enumerated]

Well put

[BraveMan]

The black inner city residents carrying all this baggage have to want to change; there lies the rub. How do you convince the disruptive student in class it's in their best interest to knuckle down and learn when the local neighborhood thug is their example of the path to a better life?

Case In Point:


Look at the last picture: New shoes, nice pants, great coat, sporting fashionable glasses, kewl hat and a shiny grille! By all published accounts a popular individual. The epitome of inner city success to those without.

Now, he's a martyr!





When you dig down to the roots this is the product of a systemic failure of the nuclear family, at least four successive generations and counting. They're not going to get that genie back in the bottle anytime soon, certainly not in my lifetime.

Lost in all of this is the salient point he was not a resident of the Sherman Park area where the rioting occurred; he simply bit the big one there. Now the law abiding residents of Sherman Park have to live with that stain and all that goes along with it (loss of property value, loss of income, undesirable reputation, etc.).

Sorry, Dr. Sowell. Way too little, way too late.

[MinuteGal]

Another one smoked out.

Leni

[gaijin]

I do like Sowell but my total worship went away when he started writing out against the Tea Party about 2 years ago.

I was really, really shocked.

I also don’t like it when he smears Trump.

I thought there would never be ANY day I’d fail to do somersaults over his articles, but that day arrived a couple years ago.

He’s....pretty good.

[enumerated]

“He said, no matter who the source is.
Which is kind of like saying “even a stopped clock is right twice a day.””

I don’t think the two statements are the same. The stopped clock deserves no credit for coincidentally being right twice a day. Sowell is giving Trump credit, perhaps a bit backhandedly, but that’s just to save face.

After all, Sowell is publicly admitting he was wrong about Trump. He’s expressing surprise as if to say “who knew?”

Well, a lot of us knew, but it takes courage and intellectual honesty to admit you were wrong - we can allow a little face saving I think.

Sowell is a little late to the party, but I’m relieved that he’s saying what he’s saying. Thomas Sowell is not someone you want on the opposing team.

I am very proud to say I was a very early boarder on the Trump train (the first debate when he masterfully answered Megan Kelly’s shameless gotcha attempt with the timeless words: “only Rosie O’Donnel”).

Yet, I must admit that if you told me two years ago that Donald Trump would be the man who would make America great again, I’d have thought you were crazy. The point is every intelligent person climbs aboard the Trump Train, but it is always stopping to pick up more passengers.

All aboard the Trump train! Better late than never!

[rebooted]

I own and have read most of Sowell's books. He was my hero along with Walter E Williams. Sowell lost me when he joined 19 other thug authors of hate in that infamous issue of national review. I was very saddened and felt betrayed by someone I greatly admired and respected. Sowell does not exist for me anymore. Tragic how so many so-called conservatives revealed they prefer professional establishment politicians. None are like our founders; Trump is.

[JayGalt]

An ethical man who loves America and his fellow Americans.
Doing a job no one else could because he knows if he doesn’t America is going down. Thank God.

[Yaelle]

Sowell acquiring a taste for Trump’s bold brash style much as he would have to for pickled herring. Glad he is at least trying!

[dsc]

“nice pants”

Snort. Jeans are for menial labor.

I haven’t owned a pair since 1974.

[dsc]

“I own and have read most of Sowell’s books. He was my hero along with Walter E Williams. Sowell lost me when he joined 19 other thug authors of hate in that infamous issue of national review. I was very saddened and felt betrayed by someone I greatly admired and respected. Sowell does not exist for me anymore.”

Same here, except that he still exists for me as a scholar.

I am baffled by his support for McLame, Mittens “Karl Marx” Romney, and Anybody-but-Trump, and would love to hear his explanation.

[GOPJ]

You’re right... the country’s on the wrong track... going the wrong direction and Trump can stop it. Elites will run us into the ground — elites of both parties...

Thank God for Trump.

[BraveMan]

Fortunate Son. I probably have more than one suit that cost less than that pair of pants.

Now my manual labor jeans; that’s another story entirely.

[dsc]

It is not unheard of for people to place a ridiculous value on objects that have no intrinsic value to justify their cost. I am amused by the tulip bulb crash.

http://www.investopedia.com/features/crashes/crashes2.asp

Some people are silly enough to believe that work clothes of virtually no intrinsic value—jeans—are worth large amounts of money because they are “cool.” Or whatever silly word may be current.

Think Rodney Dangerfield’s character in Caddy Shack, minus all the charm and sophistication.

Your suits, I’m sure, both display and command respect.

Those jeans on that turkey say to me, “I’m a drooling moron who not only believes that work clothes show high social standing, but who is also willing to pay weapons-grade stupid quantities of probably stolen money for them. Not only am I trash, not only am I unintelligent, uneducable, obnoxious trash, not only does my inability and unwillingness to earn a living (unless I am a perpetrator of rap or basketball) make me a clear and present danger to you and your family, I will never even realize how I am being flim-flammed into trading resources that could put my life on the right track for denim work pants.”

(Pant, pant.)

It was those pig-eyed, inbred, shanty-Irish trash Kennedys who lowered the bar on jeans in polite society. Just one more bite of poison fed to the American people.

BTW: I am not a fortunate son. There may not be much left of me, but whatever there ever was was self-made.