A Voice in the Wilderness In Defense of "Mere Conservatism"

Sowell’s Back With More Wisdom

Dr. Sowell wrote a fantastic column on "race" issues in American yesterday, and today he's back with Part II.  This time out Sowell focuses on the misconception far too many Americans have that quotas are not only necessary, but "good."

No dogma has caused more mischief-- and, in some countries, tragedies-- than the notion that there is something strange and wrong when some groups are "over-represented" or "under-represented" in some occupations or institutions.

This dogma is so widely accepted, and so deeply entrenched, that no one asks for evidence and no speck of evidence is offered.

Moreover, tons of evidence to the contrary are ignored.

Despite its humble appearance and influence, my website (and the articles I link to and/or write) matters a great deal to me.  I post things that I think matter.  There are few things more important than healing the racial divisions in this country, and few people who represent my worldview in this area than Dr. Sowell.

The Left has dominated this discussion for 40 years, but conservatives and Republicans, especially religious ones, have been on the side of freedom, liberty, abolition of slavery, and civil rights since our nation's inception.  We've ceded the intellectual and moral ground that is rightly ours to people whose good intentions (via social engineering projects such as welfare and affirmative action) have been disastrous.

Sowell continues:

Not only the media and politicians, but intellectuals and even the highest courts in the land, presume discrimination when some groups are "under-represented" in an employer's workforce or are "over-represented" among children disciplined in school. Tests that show some groups more proficient than others are declared to be "culturally biased." Higher infant mortality among some groups are assumed to be society's fault for not providing "access" to prenatal care for all.

A major factor in the housing boom and bust that created the present economic predicament was massive government intervention in the housing market, supposedly to correct discrimination in mortgage lending. How did they know that there was discrimination? Because blacks were turned down for mortgage loans at a higher rate than whites.

It so happens that whites were turned down for mortgage loans at a higher rate than Asian Americans, but that fact seldom made it into the newspaper headlines or the political rhetoric. Nor did either the mainstream media or political leaders mention the fact that black-owned banks turned down black mortgage loan applicants at least as often as white-owned banks did.

For me to post something from the same author two days in a row ought to signal just how important I truly believe this topic is.  Here's another Sowell video clip to wet your whistle: