Growls

My apologies for the lack of growling for the past several weeks. I also hope Arlington taxpayers enjoyed a Happy Thanksgiving.

Watchdog readers know one of our very favorite writers is Thomas Sowell. His column today at Townhall.com is nothing less than a “must read” in which he reviews Arthur Brooks’ book, “Who Really Cares.” He writes, “One of the most pervasive political visions of our time is the vision of liberals as compassionate and conservatives as less caring. It is liberals who advocate "forgiveness" of loans to Third World countries, a "living wage" for the poor and a "safety net" for all.”

Sowell goes on to note:

“But these are all government policies -- not individual acts of compassion -- and the actual empirical consequences of such policies are of remarkably little interest to those who advocate them. Depending on what those consequences are, there may be good reasons to oppose them, so being for or against these policies may tell us nothing about who is compassionate or caring and who is not.”

He then goes on to cite example after example from Brooks’ book to demolish the liberal vision that it is they who are morally more compassionate with example after example. He even takes on the idealism of the young, noting that Brooks’ study “found young liberals to make the least charitable contributions of all, whether in money, time or blood. Idealism in words is not idealism in deeds.”

The next time you hear the Arlington County Board talking about all those so-called unmet needs, tell them to read today's wisdom from Thomas Sowell.