In this follow up to his near (realized?) masterpiece, A Conflict of Visions, Sowell launches a no-hold's-barred attack on "the anointed". In A Conflict of Visions, Sowell introduced us to the constrained vision of humanity and the unconstrained vision of humanity. In this book, the two visions are renamed the 'tragic' vision and 'the vision of the anointed'. Chapter after chapter relentlessly attacks the vision (and individuals by name) of those who would assume that surrogate (third party) decision makers could and should make decisions for everyone else.

An unflinching and scathing review of those who believe they know best. Those who fancy themselves as “mothers and fathers to the world.” Sowell correctly identifies not only the statistical details of their devastation but also the means by which they seize control. I’ve come to understand than the “anointed” are communal narcissists. They are a group of people who operate not within the constraints of reality but according to their idea of it. People are not really human beings, they are merely tools to be used to prove why the anointed are superior, and deserve constant attention and praise. Yet, they use traditional hallmarks of goodness, such as charity, humanitarian efforts, and social activism to mask their need for attention.

Thomas Sowell’s Vision of the Anointed is Sowell’s attempt to explain what, to rational outside observers, appears to be the irrational behavior of politicians and social leaders. They implement programs to fix problems, the problems grow worse under the solutions even in defiance of predictions of doing nothing—and they expand the programs. As if they believe doing the same thing harder won’t have the effect of even further exacerbating the problem.

Sowell’s thesis is that this is just what they believe. That rather than believing in a world of systemic processes—logic and science—the political elite believe in a world of intentions and anointed heroes—a world, in other words (not Sowell’s), of magic and sorcery. In this world where intentions have physical effects upon the world, their intentions are good, while the intentions of their enemies—the benighted—are bad. This is by definition: their intentions are, by definition, good, and so anyone who disagrees with them is, by that same definition, bad.

This particular book is a devastating one because it reminds the reader, if any such reminder is necessary, of the dangers that happen when a powerful and corrupt cultural elite views those who disagree with them as not merely wrong but evil.  To be sure, this particular cultural trend is not limited to either the right or the left--there are a great many people, myself included, who view the social views of the left as being great evil--but the author correctly notes that there is an asymmetry between the sort of respect and patience someone who is opposed to leftism has to have and that which leftist elites hold themselves too.  The author, of course, is long experienced with being attacked for his political views and denied the sort of comfort of identity politics that leftist people of color tend to receive, and he writes with full awareness of the larger context of the culture about which he writes.  Moreover, the author manages to contrast the leftist view of reality with a coherent tragic vision that well describes my own views of human existence and a great many of those who oppose leftist folly.

This book of more than 250 pages is divided into none chapters that deal with different examples of the way in which the self-congratulatory vision of the progressive elite conflicts with reality and leads to problematic results.  After  short preface the author begins with a discussion of the way that everyone is influenced but that some have managed to escape from the pull of progressive ideals (1).  The author then discusses the pattern by which progressive failed solutions move along four stages from crisis, to mistaken solution to bad results to a misguided and defensive response in several areas, from sex education to the misguided war on poverty (2).  After that comes a look at the proper use of statistics (3) and the way that to the leftist, evidence that solutions and approaches are misguided are viewed as irrelevant (4).  The author discusses the contrast between those who view themselves as anointed and their opponents as benighted (5) as well as the various crusades of the anointed against various types of sin (6), even if those crusades are not in accordance with God's laws and ways.  The author discusses the biased vocabulary of the anointed (7) that serves as as form of doublespeak as well as the ways in which our court system has suffered disastrously from activist judges (8).  Finally, the author discusses the poisonous belief of different truths that is held by leftists (9) before concluding with notes and an index.

Some of the aspects that this author criticize are, it must be admitted, not only true of the left but also of a partisan view of any kind that seeks to make reality conform to a particular ideology.  The author, though, views himself (not without reason) as someone who is firmly bound to a realistic view of the world whose realism includes spiritual realities like the sins and follies that ensnare people and the personal choices that are made, if not always in ideal circumstances.  The author's nuanced and high-minded view of personal responsibility in the face of cultural influence and the weight of past experiences and history is one that is robust and fair-minded, although it is also one which is very different from the leftist view which he critiques so strenuously here.  This is the sort of book that reveals to the reader the extent to which one considers facts or leftist ideology of greater importance, and whether one is to be a self-anointed figure or someone who is viewed by the left as benighted.  Sometimes it's better to be reviled by foolish men and honored by God.

Thomas Sowell is one of the most interesting thinkers I've come across in years. Very critical book that builds a solid case for its premise and makes you reconsider many assumptions. However, the work also takes some statements too far and becomes guilty of blaming an abstract 'they' at times for the problems described.

Sowell is as good as I was led to believe and other fellow lefties really should read him for a well written, solid critique of progressive social policy. He's not a firebrand or a shill but his arguments are cutting and incisive. His chapter on statistics in particular was an unexpected highlight and really shows his mastery of the written word - how he makes statistics so enthralling, I just don't know.

That said, I'm not persuaded by his forceful arguments on the failure of social policies - his perspective is to focused on America, where it's true, nothing the government does seems to work. This just isn't true in other developed countries where, for example, models of criminal justice are much more lenient and focused on rehabilitation while crime rates are far lower. Similarly, the teen pregnancy rate is far higher in the US than in many other western countries where sex education is taught widely and taught well.

It's pretty clear that American social policies have largely failed; perhaps it's time for Americans to think outside the box, and consider solutions from outside their borders.

A typical liberal flaw is explored here. Social policy must be based on actual results instead of merely good intentions. Soaring rhetoric without substance backing it often does more harm than good. The main reason, Sowell argues, that Liberals get away with their bad ideas is because the people who impose those ideas rarely pay for the costs associated with their failures. If a fashionable Liberal idea such as sex education or bilingual education programs creates more pregnant children or more children who can not speak English and thus can not enter the workforce at higher wage levels, it's not the Liberal academic or theorizer who suffers. It's somebody else's family and child who must deal with the mess these bad ideas leave behind.

Everyone wants to reduce poverty, hunger, disease, injustice, and misery. The question is: how do we do that? What are the best policies and actions to reach these goals? Liberals too often hijack the moral highground and put conservatives on the defensive by claiming that the Democrats are the party that cares about the poor and misfortunate. In truth, liberal policies commonly compound existing problems or create entirely new ones by enabling or excusing bad behavior. Simply put, conservative principles produce better results. Thomas Sowell provides examples here.

This book is closely related to "A Conflict of Visions" also by Thomas Sowell. While "A Conflict of Visions" is more focused on explaining differences between competing visions, this book takes sides. Here Sowell argues that the conservative vision is superior.

An analysis of certain processes in modern day thought.

The logic by which crusaders demand certain laws or institutions or changes to effect X -- their critics say it will instead produce Z -- it is implemented, and Z results, and the crusaders without losing a beat claim that their reforms mean that it's not worse than it appears.

The problems of assuming that the causal effects have much, if anything, to do with the intentions of those who implement a program

The tendency to declare some things categorically more important than others and so pursuing them at all costs -- including human lives.

Common rhetorical fallacies.

And much more. A good book.

I really liked this book. It takes a critical look at social policies that all too often are considered to be undeniably true even in light of their past failures. The talking heads do their best to convince society that their opinion and "vision" of the world is the only correct one. They push their agenda by treating all of those with differing opinions as though they are the un-washed and un-educated. Whereas those who buy into their vision are among the anointed and the chosen.

These talking heads blythely go about pushing their agenda, creating social policy while ignoring rational analysis of facts and statistics. They have far too often replaced rational statistical analysis of outcomes of failed policy with the hopes that if they throw enough money at a problem it will magically disappear.

A great look at how two visions for society can interpret causes, effects, prior events, and morality in entirely different ways which can then lead to diametrically opposed approaches to social policy. Sowell includes a number of historical anecdotes to put both visions on display. His bias is obvious so one can find flaws in his sophistic reasoning. He also seems to repeat himself, sometimes verbatim throughout the book, which leads me to believe it was a series of disjointed essays thrown together for publication. Much of this content is borrowed from "A Conflict of Visions" and "The Quest for Cosmic Justice" despite different examples. Those two can be skipped if one reads what I think is his magnum opus, "Intellectuals and Society," which encompasses much of the work of his smaller publications. 3.5 stars

“The vision of the anointed offers a state of grace for believers – they are on a higher moral plane, a higher intellectual plane, they are the natural rulers of the world. They will change the world to reflect their vision.”
This book written almost 25 years ago is more relevant today than when it was written. The agenda of the anointed unfolded beneath the radar of public discourse as they intended. The world they believed in as reality is the gestalt today, but, as Thomas Sowell meticulously revealed, the flaws would - are destroying us. He never gets into who the anointed are, but he has defined a group that I have called the elite, socialists, mainstream media, intelligentsia and the government. The power seeking and totalitarian control over the masses is exposed. The political machine machinations are discussed. Damage caused by their absolute faith in their own vision with no acceptance of real world feedback is even more obvious today than a generation ago.
The campaigns of the left, the social engineering, the destruction of the family, the false news and “sciences” that give rise to activism, the feminist excesses, - all these and more show the tactics and the changes created by these anointed. One example near the end: he quotes Paul Weaver – “The media are less a window on reality than a stage on which officials and journalists perform self scripted, self serving fictions”. He then goes on to tell us “The ease with which the media can choose which images to contrive and spread across the land feeds the dangerous illusion that reality is optional."
For me, this fully explained the “false news” that the mainstream media is flooding our society with. This book is full of similar nuggets of truth.
Sometimes his sentence structure is packed with multiple concepts and for me this is getting harder by the year to untangle. Many times, I had to reread paragraphs to fully understand his intent. But the knowledge gained by carefully reading and evaluating every page was worth the extra effort I had to put in. For a younger and more agile mind this will not be an issue.
Thomas Sowell is an American economist and social theorist who is currently Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. I have enjoyed his opinion pieces that were regularly printed in the Sun papers. This is first book of his that I have read, but it will definitely not be the last. I highly recommend this book for anyone that thinks about politics and society. Maybe it will help us change the next quarter century and revive our freedom.

This book is a more accessible version and extension of other works (namely 'Conflict of Visions'). Sowell is one of my favorite writers as he clearly outlines many of the assumptions that comprise many of the economic and social policies of the Left. If you are interested in really understanding the fundamental difference between big-government liberalism and small-government individual liberty conservatism then this book will be helpful.