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Title: The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy by Thomas Sowell ISBN: 0-465-08995-X Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: August, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (82 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Good platform for debate
Comment: This book's main emphasis is the need for "results oriented" social policy.
Sowell's fundamental argument is:
1. Social policy is often built based on a perceived, "crisis."
2. That a "crisis," even exists, usually goes unchallenged, or ignored.
3. When said social policy fails to accomplish its stated objective, attempts are made to change the initial objective, or simply ignore the outcome.
"The Anointed," as Sowell calls them, are those who identify the crisis, put forth the policies, and then, if they fail, obfuscate the results. They live in a self justifying world, where what they "envision" is correct and moral *a priori.* Those who disagree are demonized as simpleminded and mean-spirited.
Sowell offers a lot of examples that support his theory at varying degrees of success. From Sex Ed programs, Low Income Housing, to environment policy. It is certainly a fascinating read.
Whether you agree with him or not (I mostly agree with him), what this book accomplishes is that it forces you to refocus on facts and data to make decisions, as opposed to your own moral vision.
Rating: 5
Summary: Dr. Sowell incisively analyzes left wing group think
Comment: Thomas Sowell demonstrates how anti-intellectual the current intelligensia are and how closed minded. When good intentions are more important than outcomes, a closed belief system results, insulated from real world feedback, with catastrophic results.
Modern political discourse has degenerated into name-calling ("mean-spirited," "reactionary," "racist") without reference to actual merits of a proposed course of action. Until I read Dr. Sowell's discussion of "mascots" and the "benighted," I never understood why organizations like the ACLU display the most passion of the behalf on those who exhibit the most anti-social behavor (Nazis marching in Skokie, drunks yelling obscenities at ballball games): Now I do.
Dr. Sowell's description of the genesis of government "solutions" (a phony crisis, a proposed program whose critics are shouted down and a retroactive redefinition of the program's goals when the critics prove correct) was also a revelation. Read this section and then turn to any N.Y. Times article discussing either global warming or the gender "wage gap" to see this cycle in action today.
If you read the book (and I highly recommend it), look at the Kirkus Review of it for an example of what Dr. Sowell is talking about. Isn't funny how articulate liberal writers are "passionate" and articulate conservative writers are "venomous?"
Rating: 5
Summary: Reviewers inadvertently critique their own movement
Comment: I am dying to read this book, just because the reviews show such a lack of introspection as to be ludicrous! For example, one reader accuses liberals of intellectual laziness, smugly asserting that liberals, of course, will never read this book because liberals never read self crtiticism. That tone runs rampant through many of these reviews. and it's quite telling. I see the same blanket statements on conservative reviews of their annointed authors as well as those they disagree with. The name calling and generalization betrays a shocking indifference, not only to intellectualism, but to what I believe, was the cornerstone of the Constitution: A healthy repect for debate, for fairness, for idealism. If Sowell's language and tone bears resemblance to his fans, it will serve only as a further bludgeon to our discourse. But, I will read the book, if only to rise above conservatives who violate their own principles by condescending to anyone who does not echo their views.
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Title: A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles by Thomas Sowell ISBN: 0465081428 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 19 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Barbarians Inside the Gates: And Other Controversial Essays (Hoover Institution Press Publication, No. 450) by Thomas Sowell ISBN: 081799582X Publisher: Hoover Inst Pr Pub. Date: February, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.09 |
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Title: Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy by Thomas Sowell ISBN: 046508138X Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 26 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $32.50 |
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Title: Knowledge and Decisions by Thomas Sowell ISBN: 0465037380 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: October, 1996 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One by Thomas Sowell ISBN: 0465081436 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 11 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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