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The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy
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$ 14.04
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$ 18.00 |
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$ 3.96 (22%) |
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| Item Number |
1541972 |
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Item Description...
Overview
A critical examination of failed social policies, in particular the "politically correct" theory, identifies the mistakes that have penalized American education, criminal justice, and core families
Publishers Description
Sowell presents a devastating critique of the mind-set behind the failed social policies of the past thirty years. Sowell sees what has happened during that time not as a series of isolated mistakes but as a logical consequence of a tainted vision whose defects have led to crises in education, crime, and family dynamics, and to other social pathologies. In this book, he describes how elites—the anointed—have replaced facts and rational thinking with rhetorical assertions, thereby altering the course of our social policy. |
Item Specifications...
Pages 305
Dimensions: Length: 0.75" Width: 5.25" Height: 8"
Weight: 0.55 lbs.
Binding Softcover
ISBN 046508995X
EAN 9780465089956
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Availability 10 units.
Availability accurate as of May 30, 2012 04:41.
Usually ships within one to two business days from Momence, IL.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | "right" ON Jan 10, 2010 |
| a must read for anyone confused about the differences between the right and the left and who keeps racism alive. sowell is a true american. | | | | A book way ahead of its time Sep 25, 2009 |
This brilliant book was published in 1995, around the time when the Clinton administration had suffered a big loss in Congress. And after Clinton came George W. Bush, so for thirteen years America was not suffering TOO badly from "the vision of the anointed."
But 2008 rolled around, and so did Barack Obama and his administration, and suddenly this book came into its own. The "Vision Of The Anointed" was suddenly in the driver's seat --- in Washington and in the media, and The Anointed had nothing but scorn for the unwashed, knuckle-draggin', Bible-clinging and gun-clinging troglodytes who saw reality more clearly than the anointed did. Suddenly, in the new post-racial environment, everyone was hurling the term "racist" at almost everyone. And, most amazingly, the anointed simply ceased to care about letting the unwashed feel their undiluted scorn. Congressional leaders openly referred to average Americans, peacably assembled in political protests, in shocking terms: "mobs," "evil-doers," "teabaggers" (an obscene reference) were among the most memorable.
And when video exposes threatened the huge empire of community organizers known as ACORN (with 200 other names), a number of leftists chose to go to the defense of ACORN --- to go to the defense of people willingly involved in tax fraud, housing fraud, prostitution, underage prostitution, and sexual trafficking of minors!
I recommend the review from "Publisher's Weekly" for an example of The Sneer Of The Anointed. In this book, Sowell offers a template for leftist failure. First, there is a "CRISIS" discovered. Then the leftist (Statist) "solution" is proposed. Dismal, knuckle-dragging troglodytes object that this solution will produce Unintended Consequence "Z." They are ignored by The Anointed, and the "solution" is put into effect. Ten years later, there is nothing but "Z" on view. So what? The Anointed simply decide it's time to "move on."
Sowell offers three illustrations of this template. The first is LBJ's War On Poverty, which was designed to get people off the welfare rolls. The Anointed admitted that the solution would be expensive, in the early years, but in the end, fewer people would be dependent on the government. The knuckle-dragging troglodytes objected that welfare dependency would increase. The program went through, over their objections, and ten years later the number of Americans receiving welfare had doubled. Nothing but "Z" was on view.
The second example is sex education, where the goal was a reduction in teenage pregnancy, VD, etc. Ten years later, the rate of these problems had soared. Nothing but "Z" was on view. More than that, The Anointed were beginning to insist on sex education in every year K-12. What?! The birds and the bees can be explained coherently in less than an hour, but The Anointed had no intent of doing just that. They wanted to change the thinking of an entire generation --- and for that, twelve years of propaganda would do nicely.
The third example is the Warren Court and their friends revolution in the treatment of criminals. Focusing on prevention and rehabilitation, ten years later crime rates around the nation had soared. Nothing but "Z" ws on view. Once again, The Anointed simply decided to "Move On," and let someone else clean up their mess.
This year, we have new things labelled a "CRISIS." The doubtful thing called "global warming," or "climate change" has suddenly become a crisis, and so has something as everyday as going to the doctor.
How this will play out remains to be seen, but every thinking American needs to take a look at this stunningly prescient book. | | | | Exposing Everything That's Wrong With Liberalism Apr 29, 2009 |
Until I read this book, I really never realized how sick, twisted, and demented the agenda of liberals really is. I also never realized how dangerous liberalism really is.
Here's why: liberalism doesn't deal in reality. It's also not about getting results. In the end, it's all about throwing money at situations to see if they stick. What I came away believing is that for those liberals who claim they are helping others, they are really demeaning them.
Liberalism is a demeaning belief system that seeks to exercise control over others. Liberals do what they do not because they really want to help others but to make themselves feel better about themselves.
As usual, Sowell has packed this book with practical and factual examples of what he is trying to show. Sowell exposes in graphic detail the agenda of liberals and how it's nothing more than "self congratulation as social policy."
I honestly think that reading this book is one of the reasons I rejected liberalism as a belief system. It was hard to stomach the idea that these people think the rest of us are stupid, they know what is best for us, and that in order to succeed, each of us actually needs a government solution.
Liberalism also seeks to punish those who are successful and play by the rules. Liberals do it with stupid programs like wealth redistribution.
Truthfully, after reading this book I couldn't see one redeeming characteristic of liberalism. I came away with the feeling that this is nothing more than an evil extension of communism and socialism. Not only that, it's the belief system of those who hate themselves and others.
This book taught me that basing your decisions, as well as social policy, on your emotions or what feels good is the work of the immature, foolish, and ignorant within our society. That ultimately this social engineering these people advocate is a waste of time, and that there's no way to create equality of outcome, only equality of opportunity.
Sowell sums it up well in this paragraph (p 203):
"The vision of the anointed is one in which such ills as poverty, irresponsible sex, and crime derive primarily from "society," rather than from individual choices and behavior. To believe in personal responsibility would be to destroy the whole special role of the anointed, whose vision casts them in the role of rescuers of people treated unfairly by "society." Since no society has ever treated everyone fairly, there will always be real examples of what the anointed envision. The fatal step is to make those examples universal explanations of social ills--and to remain oblivious to evidence to the contrary."
Liberals, if they dare read this book, will scream in fury because it truly exposes them for what they are, and it's not pretty. Conservatives will applaud this one because it clearly demonstrates that liberalism nothing more than hot air, the philosophy of the ignorant and lazy, those who are too busy to seek the truth. | | | | Outstanding Work by a Great Thinker Apr 20, 2009 |
| In full disclosure, I consider Dr. Thomas Sowell to be one of the greatest thinkers of this generation. I have read 4 of his books so far and consider this one of his best. Unlike many other academics, Dr. Sowell has the ability to make complex concepts attainable for the layman. As a professor of economics, he often uses examples from economics to make his points but does so in a way that is not boring. The greatest accomplishment of this work is that it explains so clearly that political differences are mostly accounted for by belief in one of two visions--the vision of the anointed or the tragic vision. They are also referred to as the unconstrained vision and the constrained vision. I highly recommend this work. Here is a link to a series of interviews with Dr. Sowell on the difference between the constrained and unconstrained visions. | | | | Super straightforward, jaw dropping untelligence Apr 18, 2009 |
This book is pretty amazing. The author deftly divides political views into *only* TWO categories! Yeah, and you would have thought that this would be impossible given the perhaps infinite number of political views possible. He then proceeds to demolish one side's viewpoint with his superior intelligence, which he so clearly possesses given his ability to generalize everything into just two categories. Kind of like in fairy tales.
Anyways, all the praise that can be given for this book has been said in other reviews. I just wanted to take the opportunity to point you to some similarly themed products you might be interested in if you enjoyed this book:
That childrens game where you take blocks of a certain shape and then put them in holes of matching shape. Very intellectually stimulating.
Any of those electronic sound books that ask you questions like "What sound does a cow make?" And then you press the button that makes the "moo" sound. This will keep you mesmerized for days, if not weeks.
Candyland. Very linear and uncomplicated, like chess or one of those other liberal hippie games.
Enjoy! | | | Write your own review about The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy
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