At 94 years of age, the legendary economist Thomas Sowell may well be America’s greatest living intellect.
Born in North Carolina but raised in Harlem, Dr. Sowell is a Marine Corps veteran. He earned an undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard (1958), a masters from Columbia (1959), and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1968.
For the last 45 years, he’s been at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, where he’s currently the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow.
Dr. Sowell retired back in 2017 from writing a weekly column. But he was so prolific and tackled so many fundamental and foundational issues for so long that his decades of work serve as something of a conservative compendium even today.
The conservative group Advancing American Freedom agrees and has sent President Trump a letter suggesting he be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Established in 1963 by President Kennedy, it’s the highest civilian award. Dr. Sowell would be a worthy recipient. Wrote the group:
“Dr. Sowell is one of America’s leading intellectuals, shaping how the nation thinks about global prosperity in economics, politics, and history,” the group wrote. “[Dr.] Sowell continues to work for economic liberty, equality before the law, and policy judged on its success or failure, not the intent of its proponents. His life reflects the American virtues of perseverance, hard work, and the pursuit of truth.”
They’re absolutely right. A master communicator, Dr. Sowell has served as a prominent voice for common sense economics, relaying truths that apply to not only business and government, but also life.
Dr. Sowell has not written or argued from a Christian platform, but believers have regularly considered his perspective to be a fine complement to our efforts navigating an often hostile and foolish culture.
Here are five pearls of his wisdom:
1. “Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good..
The single sentence sums up the impetus for the cultural revolution that has destroyed individuals and families under the guise of supposed compassion.
2. “When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”
The Bible is full of difficult truths.
3. “People who pride themselves on their ‘complexity’ and deride others for being ‘simplistic’ should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth.”
There is a lot of “grey” in the world, and the Bible is silent on many issues. But for the Christian, there is no quibbling with the fact that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).
4. “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”
As Christians, we’re called to bear one another’s burdens, but as the apostle Paul wrote, “Let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load” (Galatians 6:4-5).
5. “The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or women and men, but between talkers and doers.”
Wrote the apostle John, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).
Dr. Thomas Sowell is an intellectual giant who has performed an enormous public service. He’s exposed idiocy, foolishness, and corruption, challenged those in power, highlighted the good, educated generations, and helped Americans develop a thoughtful and wise worldview.
America owes a debt of gratitude to Dr. Thomas Sowell.
Image credit: Hoover Institute
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