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Mises Economics Blog

Commencement Speakers

June 22, 2004 2:14 PM by Art Carden | Other posts by Art Carden | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1)

According to the YAF, most commencement speakers at the nation's elite colleges and universities were decidedly left-wing. Most speeches of this sort are about enlightened social responsibility, etc., etc. That's good and well, but it's pretty obvious that most of the speakers haven't read Thomas Sowell's "The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy." In addition to carrying one of the better subtitles I've ever seen, Professor Sowell's book reminds us that good intentions aren't enough.

Policy has to be informed by sound economic reasoning. It's certainly worth noting that many of The Anointed who are giving these speeches are responsible for many, many great social disasters like the "war on poverty," state intervention in health care, assorted bombings, and extortion schemes aimed at large corporations.

It's a pity that Professor Sowell wasn't among those invited to speak at Harvard, Princeton, or Yale.

And it's an even greater pity that none of these institutions invited Walter Block or Hans-Herman Hoppe.

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Comments (2)

  • Andrew McManama-Smith
  • That YAF paper's definition of liberal is really very broad, while it's conservative definition is very narrow.
    Many of these people are moderate or non-political. When did Tom Brokaw ever advocate liberalism?

  • Published: June 22, 2004 2:38 PM

  • James McCaffrey
  • Andrew,
    So you're saying there's no liberal bias in the media?
    Tom Brokaw advocates liberalism every day at 6 o'clock to the entire country!
    You've missed the point anyway. Most of these speakers are on one side of the spectrum, and advocate unsound economic policy.

  • Published: June 22, 2004 2:43 PM

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