Compassion Versus Guilt & Other Essays

September 1, 1987
In many of these essays, largely reprinted from his newspaper columns, sociologist-economist Sowell, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute, Stanford University, and author of A Conflict of Visions, deals with attempts to change the political direction of the '80s in the most fundamental way since the New Deal. His opinions on social and foreign policy, law, education and race, among other topics, reflect a generally conservative, realistic approach to problems that, he notes, result more often in political tradeoffs than so-called solutions advocated by "deep thinkers.'' His most acerbic comments concern special-interest groups such as homosexual lobbies, bigoted crusaders of all kinds, the welfare system, pay equity and sex education. He supports Reagan's strong anti-Communism, defense and South African policies, along with the president's selection of judges and opposition to judicial activism. Sowell also favors legalization of drugs and equal opportunity over affirmative action.