For the past 26 years I have lived in Gastonia, a small city in North Carolina. Our claims to fame are few and far between. Our connections to greatness are slim to none. There are some in Gastonia who think the Marxist led union riot of the 1930's over the Loray Mill, a textile mill, is our big shot at historical fame. Democrat socialists and union supporters rally around that event as if it is the March on Selma. I have a different view.
I think the fact that North Carolina is a "Right to Work" state is a triumph over Marx. I think the success of the textile industry in our area brought great wealth to the area. I think the Revolutionary War sites in the near vicinity speak more about our American heritage than the upheaval of Marxist union organizers in the 1930's.
A short footnote to the history of Gastonia is that Thomas Sowell was born here. There is no plaque in town. No street sign, no statue, no tribute that I know of or can find. His time in Gastonia was short. According to his biographies, he spent more time in Charlotte, the big city next door, until he was around eight when his family moved to the Stuyvesant area of NYC. I want to claim Thomas Sowell. I admit hero worship of Thomas Sowell. I wish I had his intellect. Gastonia needs his intellect. Gastonia needs to claim Thomas Sowell.
At the end of the video below Dr. Sowell says, "It doesn't matter how smart you are unless you stop and think." Hallelujah and amen to that. Arguments I've had, recently with "smart" people, tell me that neglecting to look at unintended consequences and neglecting to look at steps beyond the current evidentiary group think, leads to trouble. Folks recently have told me they have a sure-fire answer to change our revenue system, yet their sure-fire answer is just as complicated and obtuse as the one we have now. (Though they adamantly demand it is not.) I only want smart people to stop and think 5 or 10 steps down the road and to realize new convolution is no better than old convolution. Basic principles applied from classical knowledge need to be applied.
Looking forward without looking to the past and receiving wisdom from the past is a recipe for disaster. Denying the success of our past is a recipe for creating policies of wrack and ruin. Creating government policies based on wishful thinking is not just silliness, but fatal. Trying to reinvent the wheel without first having a grasp of classical history and knowledge is an exercise in futility. This is why trying to come up with a "new" government based on failed governments of the past and / or based on the radical, tyrannical, utopianism of Marx is doomed to failure. This is also why working within the success of our, now classic, U.S. Constitutional Republic, as the one true basis for economic liberty and freedom in history, is our best hope for the future. "Transforming America" is the worst idea I have ever heard any president proclaim in my lifetime. And no one asked, "To what?" (except me and a few other astute patriots even more knowledgeable than I.)
If you are looking for classical knowledge, Thomas Sowell has some in the video below. Enjoy!
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