Betrayal

[stoutfellow]

Thomas Sowell has been recommended to me, on occasion, as a clear and thoughtful spokesman for modern conservatism. I have one of his books in my library, though I have done no more than glance at it.

In a recent opinion column, Thomas Sowell wrote the following:

When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.

Words fail me. I mean that literally. I have been struggling to come up with something witty, something incisive, something coherent to express the fury with which that comment fills me. I have contemplated the satiric, the grave, even the obscene; nothing suitable has come to me.

I say this: that which could be "saved" of this country by a military coup... would not be this country. It would be a shambling hulk, an Alzheimer's nation; it would not be the United States in anything but name.

Comments

You're right, there are no words.

[cynthia1960.livejournal.com]

I'd say take it to the streets, but then there probably wouldn't be a living shambling hulk. If this is what the clear and thoughtful conservatives sound like, then I'm damn glad I'm not one of them.

[desert-vixen.livejournal.com]

But remember, the liberals are traitors who want to see America fail.

WTF?

DV

[selenite.livejournal.com]

I have a couple of his books and might get more. But he jumped the shark in 2000 so I'm not going to read any of the ones he wrote after that. I sometimes read his columns but managed to miss that one, thank goodness. At 76 he's well into cranky old man mode.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

As a matter of curiosity, what did he do or say in 2000 that turned you off of him?

[selenite.livejournal.com]

He was part of a wave of Republicans attacking McCain on all sorts of bogus grounds. The Reps then had a desire unify behind a single candidate so they could get the White House back and thought having an uncontested primary season was the best way to do it. Sorta the same mechanism that had the Dems pick Kerry for "electability".

Anyway, IIRC McCain had talked of the need to run budget surpluses so we could pay off the national debt, then about $5 trillion. Sowell complained that zeroing the debt would destroy financial markets by removing US treasuries as benchmark securities and causing chaos. I figured a less than $1 trillion debt would probably provide enough benchmarking to keep Wall Street happy.

[sunlizzard.livejournal.com]

Words fail me too. But I can think of one good sound effect:

"*BANG!*"

God help us.

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

Somehow I don't think this is what Godel thought was possible.

[ndrosen.livejournal.com]

Blecch. Did he actually write that? I have found him to be clear and thoughtful at times, at many times; but it seems that the Braineater got him.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Here's (http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YmU0NGQ0ZTQzZTU4Zjk4MjdjZWMzYTM4Nzk2MzQ0MGI=) the link; it's near the bottom.

Dunno--

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

People get depressed about things, and whinge, and say (or write) foolish things. You're better off judging Mr. Sowell by his books. They're scholarly, learned, and a pleasure to read. Even his longer op-pieces are generally very fine (they usually end up having to split them into three pieces or more)

On the other hand, when perhaps he was thinking of a George Washington or wassname, the Aral Vorkosigan of Chile. It has happened.

Pretty darn unlikely granted, but there you are.