Sowell On the Lies of the Left

Movements are based much more on myths than facts, or perhaps it is better to say that they are based in the selective invocation of poorly remembered, grossly distorted, and sometimes wholly invented perceptions that are passed off as “facts.” This is because facts in and of themselves are cold, hard, mute things that carry little or no actual meaning. It is only when they are arranged or manipulated to create patterns of understanding that they speak to us, and the voice in which they speak is our own.

We are all editors of our experience and it is through that editorial function that we find meaning in our existence. That perception of meaning motivates us to join with others to achieve common goals, and thus it is that patterned, selective, highly edited, explanations of the past and present – myths – underlie coordinated action.

It may be churlish to point this out, especially in the eyes of those who pride themselves on having a “reality based” view of the world, but confronting the myths that inform our actions can be instructive and open the way to deeper understanding. I assume that it is in this benevolent, informative spirit that Thomas Sowell, in a couple of recent articles, gently points out the factual errors and misperceptions that inform the elite liberal consensus.

He writes:

While liberals may think of the 1960s as the beginning of many "progressive" trends in American society, cold hard facts tell a very different story. The 1960s marked the end of many beneficial trends that had been going on for years -- and a complete reversal of those trends as programs, policies, and ideologies of the liberals took hold….

He points to rates of teen pregnancy, homicide, and the incidence of sexually-transmitted disease, all of which had been getting better prior to the 1960’s and which were reversed during that decade.

Liberals looking back on the 1960s take special pride in their role on racial issues, for civil rights laws and the advancement of blacks out of poverty….

But, as Sowell points out, the greatest economic gains for blacks took place between 1940 and 1960 and cannot be ascribed to liberal programs instituted after that time. Moreover, as he notes, Republicans supported liberal legislation like the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act far more consistently than did Democrats.

As for saving the country from riots, the facts show the direct opposite. It was precisely when [and where] liberals were in power that riots rocked cities across the country.

And what about the terrible suffering of the poor that liberals blame on inequality?

Sowell points out that even as inequality has gotten greater the real incomes of people on the bottom of the economic ladder have risen as have their affordable lifestyles. Moreover, few people live most of their lives at the bottom.

Three-quarters of the people in the bottom 20 percent in 1975 were also in the top 40 percent at some point over the next two decades.

And the number of “poor” Americans has been rapidly declining, both as a proportion of the population and in absolute numbers.

In absolute numbers, they [people over the age of 25 earning the minimum wage] have declined from 7.8 million to just over 2 million, even though the population as a whole has been growing.

And what is the function of the myth?

[T]he liberal media and intelligentsia are strenuously trying to preserve the vision of poverty and economic distress.

Why these desperate attempts to preserve poverty as a vision while it is eroding as a reality? Because it is "the poor" who give the left its moral authority and political clout….

The poor are the very lifeblood of the left, attracting activists, support among the intelligentsia, and -- perhaps most important -- allowing the left to indulge in self-congratulation as people who "care."

He’s right of course. The great liberal crusades of recent decades have been largely based on strenuously maintained myths, but much the same could be said about movement conservatism. Both the political left and right in today’s ideological confrontations are peddling a pack of self-serving lies, and both should be called on it.

It would be nice to see Prof. Sowell turn his critical gaze on those who, like him, occupy the right precincts of the political spectrum, but I suppose that would be too much to ask. For both the left and the right the myths are necessary fictions without which the movements would be unsustainable.

Read Sowell’s articles here and here.