Thomas Sowell Quotes
The old adage about giving a man a fish versus teaching him how to fish has been updated by a reader: Give a man a fish and he will ask for tartar sauce and French fries! Moreover, some politician who wants his vote will declare all these things to be among his 'basic rights.'
Sowell, Thomas. Ever Wonder Why? And Other Controversial Essays. Hoover Institution Press, 2006.
The quotation is from Walzer, but the idea was originated by the Jewish Rabbi, Physician and Philosopher Maimonides (1135-1204) who Walzer credits. This idea is really at the historical and philosophical backbone of all welfare reform efforts. Maimonodes, for example, argued that one of the greatest forms of charity is giving a person money or other assistance to start a business.
In the early colony of Liberia each man was supposed to work 2 days a week for the community in exchange for public stores. Ashmun was the agent of the colonial society that provided funds to get the colony started, but he became a political issue. While many of the whites of the Colonial Society were abolitionists, many others were not and just wanted to get rid of free Blacks. Ashman however was an outspoken foe of the slave trade and the latter group, in retaliation for his public attacks on the slave trade, withdrew their ‘confidence” in him and refused to honor his bank drafts or even to provide funds for his subsistence and remuneration. The colony was thus in chaos, and a number of men went on a work strike in protest of the political fight in the society affecting them. To prevent complete chaos and maintain some unity and discipline in the colony, Ashmun issued this order. Things calmed down in the colony but the society continues its politicking with different views on slavery the cause of the strife.
Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social theorist, and senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
