Professor Thomas Sowell captures the spirit behind the curse of the Wests 'progressive elite' succinctly and with a dash of historical irony in this quote:
"In the anointed we find a whole class of supposedly 'thinking people' who do remarkably little thinking about substance and a great deal of verbal expression," Sowell observed. "In order that this relatively small group of people can believe themselves wiser and nobler than the common herd, we have adopted policies which impose heavy costs on millions of other human beings, not only in taxes, but also in lost jobs, social disintegration, and a loss of personal safety. Seldom have so few cost so much to so many."
His wisdom will be sorely missed and the world of ideas will be much the poorer. His work has not only inspired many conservatives to hope but has also changed a few leftist mindsets as well, which as we all know is not an easy thing for another human being to do:
The former leftist playwright David Mamet, in his 2008 manifesto, "Why I Am No Longer a Brain-Dead Liberal," cited his exposure to Sowell, whom he dubbed "our greatest contemporary philosopher," as a critical factor in his conversion. Whether tackling the "bait and switch media," the "organized noisemakers," or the lawless enablers of "social disintegration, Thomas Sowell's dozens of academic books and thousands of newspaper columns have sparked generations of his readers across the political spectrum to think independently and challenge imposed visions.
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