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A response to Thomas Sowell’s Dismantling America posted on Townhall.com.
It is indeed troubling when ostensibly intelligent and well-educated people, like Thomas Sowell, from all appearances, do not seem to research the subjects of which they discuss or write. Is it that they don’t know how to read or don’t understand what they read? Of course, they know how to read and they do understand, and to say they don’t is ridiculous. They, in their writing and conversation, will read into, imply, obfuscate, mislead, misinform, or deviously use hot-button language that incites their audience because they want vulnerable Americans to get on the same page as they regarding the issues.
The issues in Sowell’s latest article have been long ago hashed out contentions. The article by Republican congressman Paul Broun of Georgia that Thomas Sowell has focused on was published almost a year ago, back in November 2008. President Obama had just been elected. For some reason people just won’t let go of these arguments even though they have all been resolved to the satisfaction of most reasonably minded people.
Sowell’s czar argument can be easily researched. It took me about a second to find the information for which I was looking. A very excellent answer to his argument and insinuations can be found at factcheck.org. I am not going to address Sowell’s talk radio, death panel, or school children remarks because their falsity can be easily be determined with a simple Google search.
A list of so-called czars and number of czars compared with other administrations can be found here: List of U.S. executive branch czars.
Sowell’s statement that President Obama has already floated the idea of a national police force, something we have done without for more than two centuries is also being very disingenuous, and I believe Mr. Sowell knows it. Again, another very excellent explanation can be found at factcheck.org,
Sowell uses Fox News as a source, as in this statement, Any miscalculation on his part would be in not thinking that others would discover what these stealth appointees were like. Had it not been for the Fox News Channel, these stealth appointees might have remained unexposed for what they are. Fox News is now high on the administration's enemies list. Sowell’s credibility sinks into the abyss when he used Fox News, such as the programs of Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and Bill O’Reilly, as a source to critique Obama.
Sowell states, Nothing so epitomizes President Obama's own contempt for American values and traditions like trying to ram two bills through Congress in his first year-- each bill more than a thousand pages long-- too fast for either of them to be read, much less discussed.
I believe Mr. Sowell is talking about healthcare reform and the stimulus bill when he remarks about two bills rammed through congress in his post. Mr. Sowell, as well as others, always use interesting language when they take potshots at President Obama, such as Sowell’s use of the word ram in the last quote. President Obama was not ramming (meaning to force) anything. Just because someone wants, appeals, or request something does not mean the intention is to achieve it by force. Any administrator is going to ask for or set due dates for projects, reports, or studies. It is axiomatic for a good manager to do that with his subordinates.
President Obama simply was citing his expectations that the House and Senate would have their versions of healthcare reform by the August break, so the bills can be unified in the fall. It’s only reasonable to expect that if a bill was to be passed this year that it would be necessary to do that.
As far as the stimulus bill is concerned, Thomas Sowell, in another article, claims the stimulus was rushed through Congress in two days. He claims the Obama administration was successful in rushing a massive spending bill through Congress in just two days — after which it sat on the president's desk for three days, while he was away on vacation. Politifact.com says this is false.
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