A Thought for Thomas Sowell

A fixture in conservative and libertarian circles over the past half century, Thomas Sowell has penned his final syndicated column.


The 86-year old economist (who would have likely won a Nobel had he been of a more Keynesian persuasion) has decided to move on and pursue his passion of photography. Although he did not say so there can be little doubt that the ascendance of Donald Trump contributed to his decision. To say that Sowell was not enthusiastic about Donald Trump would be an understatement. As he wrote this past April:


If ever there was a time when we needed a serious, mature President of the United States, with a depth of knowledge and a foundation of personal character, a grownup in the White House, this is that time.


But seldom a week goes by without Donald Trump demonstrating, yet again, that he is painfully lacking in all these prerequisites.Instead of offering coherent plans for dealing with the nation’s problems, Trump skips that and boasts of the great things he will achieve. Those who dare to question are answered with cheap putdowns, often at a gutter level.


A man in his 60s, who is still acting like a spoiled adolescent, is not going to grow up in the next four years. And, as President, he would have the lives of us all, and our loved ones, in his hands, as well as the fate of this great nation at a fateful time.


Now eventually Sowell told Ben Shapiro he would vote against Hillary Clinton. But voting against Hillary isn't the same thing as voting for Trump.


Of course, Sowell is grateful for what he has in America:


In material things, there has been almost unbelievable progress. Most Americans did not have refrigerators back in 1930, when I was born. Television was little more than an experiment, and such things as air-conditioning or air travel were only for the very rich.


My own family did not have electricity or hot running water, in my early childhood, which was not unusual for blacks in the South in those days.


It is hard to convey to today's generation the fear that the paralyzing disease of polio inspired, until vaccines put an abrupt end to its long reign of terror in the 1950s.


Most people living in officially defined poverty in the 21st century have things like cable television, microwave ovens and air-conditioning. Most Americans did not have such things, as late as the 1980s. People whom the intelligentsia continue to call the "have-nots" today have things that the "haves" did not have, just a generation ago.


I am about half Sowell's age. Yet I am old enough to remember life without microwaves, VCRs, cell phones and personal computers. If people my age can't fathom my life experiences then how can they fathom Sowell's?


Yet Sowell did his part to write about economics and other matters in a way most people could understand. Thomas Sowell has earned the right to let others hand down those lessons and enjoy a joyful retirement even if he must do in less than joyful circumstances.