1. “If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.”
Oh, how the political winds have changed in America. While millions of brave Americans once marched for equality, that term has seemed to lose its luster over the years. Today, radical liberals would rather insist that we “check our privilege” than actually fight for a more just society.
2. “It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.”
This quote from his 1980 book Knowledge and Decisions perfectly articulates the lunacy of universal health care. Big spenders always speak of their desire to attack “unaffordability” and make certain amenities more accessible for more people. However, their inability to understand economic repercussions can be maddening.
3. “The biggest and most deadly ‘tax’ rate on the poor comes from a loss of various welfare state benefits—food stamps, housing subsidies and the like—if their income goes up.”
Dr. Sowell’s statement on welfare encapsulates the perverse incentives these kinds of programs create. While liberals and Democrats may claim that the monstrous programs that they have created keep impoverished Americans from starvation, the truth is that so many of these same programs create a culture of dependency, thereby punishing the same people these programs are supposed to help.
4. “The real minimum wage is zero.”
As much as big government politicians may like to avoid economic cause and effect, we all know that this is not possible. Governments can make the minimum wage as artificially high as they wish, but they can never prohibit employers from refusing to hire because of such wage floors.