Stopping illegal immigration would mean that wages would have to rise to a level where Americans would want the jobs currently taken by illegal aliens.
Thomas SowellRead
We don‘t have faith that #freedom works. We have evidence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes that the effectiveness of freedom is not based on belief but on observable evidence.
Thomas Sowell's quote highlights the importance of empirical evidence in understanding the concept of freedom. Unlike faith, which is based on belief without proof, evidence provides a concrete foundation for recognizing the benefits and functionalities of freedom in society. It encourages individuals to rely on data and real-world outcomes rather than mere belief when assessing the merits of freedom.
Themes
FreedomEvidenceFaithSocietyEmpirical
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate about government policies, one might refer to this quote to highlight the importance of evidence in supporting claims about freedom.
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You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.
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The real problem, both in discussions of mass shootings and in discussions of gun control, is that too many people are too committed to a vision to allow mere facts to interfere with their beliefs, and the sense of superiority that those beliefs give them.
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Why is history important? Without history, many people have no idea how many of today's half-baked ideas have been tried, again and again - and have repeatedly led to disaster. Most of these ideas are not new. They are just being recycled with re-treaded rhetoric.
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We've been a free people living under the law, with faith in our Maker and in our future. I've said before that the most sublime picture in American history is of George Washington on his knees in the snow at Valley Forge. That image personifies a people who know that it's not enough to depend on our own courage and goodness; we must also seek help from God, our Father and Preserver.
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Brief is this existence, as a visit in a strange house. The path to be pursued is poorly lit by a flickering consciousness.
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"Natural" man is always there, under the changeable historical man. We call him and he comes-a little sleepy, benumbed, without his lost form of instinctive hunter, but, after all, still alive. Natural man is first prehistoric man-the hunter.
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This much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.
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One of the characteristics of the dream is that nothing surprises us in it. With no regret, we agree to live in it with strangers, completely cut off from our habits and friends.
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Religion was fading into the background. He had shovelled away all the beliefs that would hamper him, had cleared the ground, and come more or less to the bedrock of belief that one should feel inside oneself for right or wrong, and should have the patience to gradually realise one's God. Now life interested him more.
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