The day before this show was recorded, Dr. Thomas Sowell began his 10th decade of life. Remarkably on one hand and yet completely expected on the other, he remains as engaged, analytical, and thoughtful as ever. In this interview (one of roughly a dozen or so we’ve conducted with Dr. Sowell over the years), we delve into his new book Charter Schools and Their Enemies, a sobering look at the academic success of charter schools in New York City, and the fierce battles waged by teachers unions and progressive politicians to curtail them.
A tenth-grader I happen to know pretty well takes her school grades seriously and derives satisfaction and pride from good ones (which, I might add, she routinely seems to get). This spring was hard for her—no fun for a teenager to be home with mom and dad all day, no contact with friends except on screens, and none of the face-to-face classroom interaction with teachers and fellow students that she adores.
During the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia and Western advanced economies, there was a clear pattern of lockdown, containment, and gradual economic reopening. But now a third pandemic wave has brought a new, more disturbing pattern to both developing countries and major US states.
As circumstance would have it, for the second consecutive year this column precedes America’s Fourth of July weekend. As such, it seems like the proper moment to discuss California and liberty.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the incidence of COVID-19 deaths among those 65 years old and older is about 200 times that of people younger than 35. Because roughly half of all deaths of seniors occur in nursing homes, both in the United States and abroad, improving sanitary conditions seems to be the straightforward solution to reducing deaths among the elderly.
The one constant on display through all these topics is an irrepressible mind digging through the data in order to understand the complex reality underneath. His intellectual process, plus his ability to write quickly, have resulted in dozens of books and hundreds upon hundreds of newspaper columns that have helped many of us learn.
interview with Michael R. Auslinvia Foreign Policy Research Institute
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
Hoover Institution fellow Michael Auslin discusses his new book, Asia’s New Geopolitics: Essays on Reshaping the Indo-Pacific, which examines key issues transforming the Indo-Pacific and the broader world, including the history of American strategy in Asia, from the eighteenth century through today.
Yesterday, Thomas Sowell turned 90. And he is more relevant than ever. Sowell, a frequent contributor to National Review and prodigious scholar, has delivered yet another insightful and accessible book, Charter Schools and Their Enemies. It was released on his birthday — a gift from Sowell to the rest of us.
Is America creating a paper tiger out of our law enforcement authorities? It’s quite possibly happening as we see evidence all around. A paper tiger is defined as a person or thing that appears threatening but is ineffectual.
The New York Times last year came up with a project to debase America, to say this country is about nothing but slavery, that the institution has determined everything we are, that it instructs us to this day on the maltreatment of Black people. The Revolutionary War was fought to keep it going and the pretenses of liberty and equality have been just that, pretenses. Slavery even fashioned a capitalism that maintains its evils and built our economy, we learn.
We’ve had close elections before, but political experts are bracing for events that might be unprecedented come November. Surprisingly large portions of both Republicans and Democrats seem poised to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election if their side loses. Some even favor authoritarian rule over elections as the best way to run the country. And a new worry for 2020 is the risk that more mail-in voting could delay official results well past Election Day, leaving voters wondering whether it will be Donald Trump’s agenda or Joe Biden’s, once January arrives.
Like the Great Wall of generations past, Xi’s Internal Great Wall will continue to keep China behind the rest of the world because a nation that suppresses its own people is not a nation the world can trust to do business fairly.
The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced global rifts. What does this mean for our ability to respond to the intertwined medical emergency and economic crisis? How does the increased tension affect our capacity to address other global emergencies and challenges? What is the future of multilateralism?
It has become a kind of parlor game in the delirium of home confinement: Spot The Power Broker. This book, with its three-word title lettered boldly in red on a wide white spine, turns up time and time again on the bookshelves behind TV’s talking heads -- news anchors, talk-show hosts and their know-it-all guests.
