Reflecting on the ‘powerful’ words of Thomas Sowell

Occasionally, but not very often, a voice comes out of the darkness.

It might not be quite as world-changing as what Moses witnessed on Mt. Sinai. Nor as powerful as what Jesus heard in the Garden of Gethsemane.

(For the terminally secular, they are references from a book known as the Bible.) However, every once in a while someone speaks/writes with such clarity and rational thought that it stops you in your tracks. Makes you think about the subject matter. Makes you marvel at the message.

Then, it makes you ask a painful question, “And why isn’t this person in Washington … running our country?”

The latest on my short list of sorely missed leaders is Thomas Sowell.

OK, at age 87 it might be a little too late to put him in the White House. Or even the Senate – although there are more than a few blubbering octogenarian windbags holding one of the 100 most powerful political positions in this country.

Too bad, we could desperately use a great thinker like Sowell.

For those who have never heard of him, he is an American economist, turned social theorist, political philosopher and author. His credentials are impressive, as he is currently a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

Even more impressive is the fact that he accomplished so much, coming from humble roots … born in Gastonia, North Carolina and raised on the hardened streets of Harlem.

Yes, he is black – a prime example of someone who had to swim upstream much of his life but persevered to the point where he now stands as an inspiration to all Americans.

He interrupted his formal education to fight with the Marines in Korea. Upon his return, he got an undergraduate degree from Harvard, a masters from Columbia and a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago.

His writings, over the years, are concise, yet powerful. He has authored a number of books on economics and race. He wrote hundreds of columns that have been published in Forbes magazine, National Review, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times and the New York Post.

Sadly, he ended his columnwriting career in 2016, explaining, “The question is not why I am quitting; but why I kept at it