My Hero... Thomas Sowell
Thomas
Sowell (born June 30, 1930), is an American economist, social
commentator, and author of dozens of books. He often writes from an
economically laissez-faire perspective. He is currently a senior fellow
of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. In 1990, he won the
Francis Boyer Award, presented by the American Enterprise Institute. In
2002 he was awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific
scholarship melding history, economics, and political science.
An amazing man for his thoughts and writings are so crystal clear to the conservative mind. I read all of his works and hope others will also understand what he is saying to them!
Thomas Sowell was born in North Carolina, where, as recounted in his
autobiography, A Personal Odyssey, his encounters with white people were
so limited that he didn't believe that "yellow" was a possible color for
human hair. He and his siblings moved to Harlem, New York City with his
mother's sister (whom he believed was his mother; his father died before
he was born). He dropped out of high school and moved out on his own at
age 17 because of financial difficulties and a deteriorating home
environment. These hard-scrabble years are detailed in his
autobiography. He later served in the US Marine Corps.
After his service, Sowell passed a GED and enrolled at Howard
University. His high grades enabled him to transfer and complete a
Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard College, magna cum laude, a
Master of Arts in Economics from Columbia University, and a Doctor of
Philosophy in Economics from the University of Chicago. He initially
chose Columbia University he has said, because he wanted to study under
George Stigler. After arriving at Columbia and hearing that Stigler had
moved on to Chicago, Sowell followed him there.
Sowell has taught at prominent American universities including Howard
University, Cornell University, Brandeis University, and UCLA. Since
1980 he has been a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford
University, where he holds the fellowship named after Rose and Milton
Friedman.
"High-Stakes Court" By Thomas Sowell... Makes One Think!
Recent landmark court decisions are reminders that elections are not
just about putting candidates in office for a few years.
The judges that elected officials put on the bench can remake the legal
landscape, change fundamental social policies and even affect the way
wars are fought, long after those who appointed them have served their
terms and passed from the scene.
The Supreme Court recently created a new "right" out of thin air for
captured enemy soldiers and terrorists-- the right to seek release in
the federal courts, something that neither the Constitution nor the
Geneva Convention provided.
The High Court has also struck down gun control laws as violations of
the Second Amendment. Whatever the legal merits or the policy merits of
that decision, it is a major change, created by judges.
The point here is that federal judges, including Supreme Court justices,
wield enormous-- and growing-- power. What that means is that when we
vote for the candidates who will nominate and confirm judges, we are
making decisions not only for ourselves but for generations yet unborn.
Recent momentous decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court have been decided
by 5 to 4 votes, including the votes of justices appointed by presidents
who are no longer living-- Justice John Paul Stevens, appointed by
President Ford, and Justice Anthony Kennedy, appointed by President
Reagan.
Whoever is elected to the White House this November is expected to
appoint two or three new members of the Supreme Court-- justices who
will be making major decisions affecting the future of American society,
long after that president is gone.
Your children will be living during the lifetime tenure of those
justices, and your grandchildren will be living in a world shaped by the
precedents that those justices set.
In a year when dissatisfaction has been expressed by both Democrats and
Republicans with the presidential candidates chosen by their own
parties, it is worth keeping in mind the high stakes involved in
judicial appointments-- and therefore in presidential elections.
This is especially important to be kept in mind by voters who are
thinking of venting their frustrations by voting for some third-party
candidate that they know has no chance of being elected.
There will be a president chosen this November, and he will appoint
Supreme Court justices during his term, regardless of whether you stay
home or go to the polls.
His choices for the High Court will have a major impact on history,
whether you vote after a sober consideration of many facts or vote on
the basis of the candidate's rhetoric, style or demographics.
Even more important than the particular issues that courts will decide
is the more fundamental issue of what a judge's role is in our system of
Constitutional government.
In the gun control decision, for example, there were justices who read
the history and meaning of the Second Amendment differently. What was
most dangerous, however, was Justice Stephen Breyer's opinion that it
was up to judges to weigh and "balance" the pros and cons of gun control
laws.
If we have Constitutional rights only when judges like the end results,
we may as well not have a Constitution.
Is the right to free speech to be put aside, and a journalist put behind
bars, whenever a judge thinks that journalist went "too far" in
expressing an opinion about some politician or bureaucrat?
Is someone to be tried over again for the same crime, even after having
been acquitted, if judges regard the Constitutional ban on double
jeopardy as just a suggestion to be weighed and "balanced?"
We have already seen what happens when a 5 to 4 majority decides that
politicians can seize your home and give it to somebody else, if judges
don't think your property rights "balance" whatever politicians choose
to call "the public interest."
When deciding which candidate you want in the White House for the next 4
years, it is worth considering what kind of judges you want on the
federal courts for the next generation.