It's superb isn't it. Watched it yesterday. His journey to dissident right icon and thought leader is so inspiring and also his rise from the poorest backwaters of NC to professor is gilt edged proof that America is a meritocracy or it was and can and will be again.
Yup, he was a marxist as a young man and then he got a government job and his view of marxism completely collapsed overnight. He credits his realization for how marxism and communism cannot work because when he went to his colleages in the government office he'd gotten a job in about how they could reform the system and make it better, they all just looked at him like he was fucking crazy and basically told him it wasn't going to happen because the status quo was what let them keep their jobs, and if the situation changed for the better such that their office wasn't needed they'd be out of work and out of a cushy government paycheck.
That reality check apparently floored him. Marxism / communism is all about the "people" having the power through the state / big government (ignore the logical contradiction there, all communists do) but when Sowell actually saw the kind of people employed by the government he thought to himself, to paraphrase "holy shit, there's no way I'd trust people like this to be in control of all the means of production".
TLDR : Thomas Sowell was a marxist as a young man until he got a government job and saw the kind of people that occupied government positions, at which point he became avidly anti-marxist because he realized just how catastrophic things would get if power was consolidated into the hands of the types of people he met in the government.
Sowell is so badass. The cat is 90 and they still fear him like Iron Mike in his prime! Live forever Tom...
Hes like the Chuck Norris of economics
There is a new Sowell documentary released recently called "Common Sense in a Senseless World"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK4M9iJrgto
I didn't realize he is a reformed marxist.
It's superb isn't it. Watched it yesterday. His journey to dissident right icon and thought leader is so inspiring and also his rise from the poorest backwaters of NC to professor is gilt edged proof that America is a meritocracy or it was and can and will be again.
Yup, he was a marxist as a young man and then he got a government job and his view of marxism completely collapsed overnight. He credits his realization for how marxism and communism cannot work because when he went to his colleages in the government office he'd gotten a job in about how they could reform the system and make it better, they all just looked at him like he was fucking crazy and basically told him it wasn't going to happen because the status quo was what let them keep their jobs, and if the situation changed for the better such that their office wasn't needed they'd be out of work and out of a cushy government paycheck.
That reality check apparently floored him. Marxism / communism is all about the "people" having the power through the state / big government (ignore the logical contradiction there, all communists do) but when Sowell actually saw the kind of people employed by the government he thought to himself, to paraphrase "holy shit, there's no way I'd trust people like this to be in control of all the means of production".
TLDR : Thomas Sowell was a marxist as a young man until he got a government job and saw the kind of people that occupied government positions, at which point he became avidly anti-marxist because he realized just how catastrophic things would get if power was consolidated into the hands of the types of people he met in the government.
Is that what we’re calling Michelle after his husband takes the morning after.....?