Thomas Sowell on the American Left

Although they will never admit it, the American Left does not want to see anyone rise out of poverty. Unless, of course, they somehow managed to do it through their dependence on the great mama cow that is the American welfare state, or some other Marxist-inspired instrument of "generosity."

In his latest column in the Washington Times, Thomas Sowell makes that exact point:

The poverty rate among black married couples has been in single digits since 1994 but the left has shown no more interest in why that is so than they have shown in why many millions of people have risen out of poverty in Latin America or in China and India.

Where progress can be plausibly claimed to be a result of policies favored by the left, such claims are made. A whole mythology has grown up that the advancement of minorities and women in America is a result of policies promoted by the left in the 1960s. Such claims are often based on nothing more than ignoring the history of the progress made before 1960.

Retrogressions in the wake of the policies of the 1960s are studiously ignored — the runaway crime rates, the disintegration of black families, and the ghetto riots of the 1960s that have left many black communities still barren more than 40 years later.

When was the last time you heard about someone rising above their poverty thanks to a government handout? If you said, "Come to think of it, I can't remember one," you are correct!