Among the most influential thinkers who has helped shape and craft conservatism for decades is the great economist Dr. Thomas Sowell.
There are few people who have done as much to combat the destructive policies of the progressives and the left through logic and reasoning as Thomas Sowell. His books are essential reading for anyone who desires to seriously study the best arguments against liberalism.
Among those are "Basic Economics," which is pretty self-explanatory; "A Conflict of Visions," about the failed leftist vision for America; and "Black Rednecks and White Liberals," which tackles the liberal view on race relations.
One of the most important contributions Sowell has given us is an economic maxim that slices through one of our worst intellectual tendencies.
He often refers to this idea in the brief but powerful dictum: "There are no solutions; there are only trade-offs."
This simple statement has incredible wisdom behind it. So much of our current politics is mired in Manichean exaggerations where partisans pretend that the solutions to all our problems are very simple and it's only through the evil of the other side that we are kept from a glorious utopia. You can see this tendency being manipulated by people on both sides of the aisle.
On the other hand, Sowell's maxim sets out that that every policy solution will have some drawbacks or trade-offs. This means that many, though not all, of our political problems are about finding the best option among many rather than a simplistic binary between an extreme evil and Pollyannish messianism.
Managing trade-offs is not as exciting as declaring every political battle the equivalent of the apocalypse, but that is what politics should be — less about emotional outbursts and more about statesmanship and pragmatic leadership.
For this and so many other reasons, I am thankful that God has blessed this nation and the world with the wisdom of Thomas Sowell. If you are unfamiliar with his works, I highly encourage you to seek them out.
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In the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel and in the midst of pro-Palestinian rallies occurring across the globe, those who support Israel may find themselves wondering where all this anti-Semitism comes from.
Why, historically, has there been such enmity for the Jewish nation?
A number of years ago, beloved author, economist, and social commentator Thomas Sowell addressed this very issue.
When asked where the hatred for the Jews originates, Sowell explained that of all the persecuted groups on the planet, including the “Chinese,” the “Armenians ... in the first World War,” and “all the blacks lynched in the entire history of the United States,” no ethnic group has seen such persecution as the Jews.
“The question is why these particular kinds of people are the targets of so much venomous hatred,” he said, “and I think the answer is that they not only succeed, they succeed in a way which is a threat to the egos of other people.”
Giving an analogy, Sowell continued, “The guy who comes here, let's say, from Vietnam or Korea and arrives here with little more than the clothes in his back ... a decade later, he has his own little business,” so “you've got to hate yourself for saying, 'My God, I've been stagnating and this guy was nothing and now he's risen up,' or you're going to have to hate him.”
Sowell then told the story of being asked years ago by an official in one of the Jewish organizations in New York what “the Jews themselves [can] do in order to minimize the hostility they face.”
“I gave him a one-word answer,” Sowell said. “Fail. Because as long as you succeed, you’re going to be hated.”
“That probably is the story of the Jews,” says Dave Rubin, adding that, “You have Jews who are not only succeeding,” but “there is a sense in the country that they are going to be stronger than ever on the other side of this — that this is ironically bringing them together.”
“That is why they particularly hate Israel because it's a place where not only Jews are succeeding but then Jews refuse to fail,” he says, echoing Sowell’s words.
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Meta, the parent company for Facebook, has reinstated the advertisement account of the conservative children's book publisher Heroes of Liberty after the company's communications director said the account was permanently suspended in "error."
Heroes of Liberty publishes illustrated children's books about historical figures who have "promoted freedom, faith, or family values, or lived a virtuous life of self-reliance, creativity, or devotion in light of those sacred principles." Their series features biographies on John Wayne, President Ronald Regan, Thomas Sowell, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and other prominent historical figures.
On Monday, Heroes of Liberty editor and board member Bethany Mandel said that Facebook "dealt a real blow" to the publisher by banning their ads just days before Christmas. Facebook on Dec. 23 had said their ads had violated the company's rules against "Low Quality or Disruptive Content" but did not provide specific details on how they did so.
Thread: My new children's book publishing company, @HeroesOfLiberty, was dealt a real blow going into the New Year, when we were banned by Facebook. We\u2019re a new literary start-up that publishes quality illustrated biographies of great Americans.https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/facebook-permanently-locks-conservative-childrens-book-publisher-heroes-liberty\u00a0\u2026— Bethany S. Mandel (@Bethany S. Mandel) 1641220644
After Heroes of Liberty appealed Facebook's decision, the company's content moderators rejected their appeal, writing in a message: "After a final review of this ad account, we confirmed it didn't comply with our Advertising Policies or other standards."
In a Twitter thread, Mandel explained that there were a number of negative comments from Facebook users on the Heroes of Liberty ads and suggested that these users may have reported the ads to Facebook.
After Fox Business published a report on Facebook's action against Heroes of Liberty, a spokesman for the company said the account had been suspended in error.
"I wanted to let you know that the ads account was disabled in error and has been restored," Meta spokesman Drew Pusateri told Fox Business on Monday.
But while Facebook responded to media inquiries, Mandel said Heroes of Liberty was never told their account was restored.
"They proactively reached out to several members of Congress and told them it was a mistake and we’re back online. Those offices told us," Mandel told Fox Business. "They didn't reach out to us."
Speaking to Fox News on Tuesday, Mandel said that Meta's unresponsiveness had left Heroes of Liberty in the dark.
"When they initially disabled us two-days before Christmas when we were sort of doing our big push to sell our books they never told us anything," Mandel said.
"We were kind of left hanging not knowing what to do and not knowing who to contact," she explained.
Mandel said that Heroes of Liberty was contacted by multiple U.S. congressman after the Fox Business report, which got the ball rolling on action from Meta.
"Fast-forward to late last night, they're telling Brit Hume on Twitter and Mary Katherine Ham on Twitter that we were reinstated. And they told multiple members of Congress that we were reinstated, but they never actually contacted us directly. We see our ad account is back enabled but we have no idea if we're on probation or if it was in fact an error," Mandel said.
She suggested that "woke people behind the screen at Facebook" listen to a vocal minority of left-wing Facebook users that report conservative content because they deem it offensive.
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