2015 April 22^nd

Thomas Sowell’s column a few days ago was aimed at Donald Trump’s unhappiness with the RNCs rules. In passing Sowell feels obligated to take some gratuitous swings at Hillary Clinton and her record as Secretary of State. He claims that, “The foreign policies under Secretary Clinton have led to one disaster after another, whether in the Middle East, the Ukraine, or in North Korea.” Sowell’s naiveté is astonishing; the Secretary of State carries out the policies of the administration, and surely helps determine them. The Secretary most certainly does not set the country’s foreign policy de novo.

Additionally, world events do not always yield to diplomacy: What diplomatic action, short of agreeing to slavery, would have led to the Southern States resolving to remain in the Union? In the case of Libya, the removal of Khadafy was accomplished by the combined efforts of many countries. Does Sowell truly believe all of their foreign ministers were negligent because Libya became chaotic when Khadafy was removed? The notion is preposterous!

Sowell has forgotten, or prefers to forget, that Khadafy admitted to arranging for a bomb to be planted in the La Belle café in Berlin in 1986. Two American service men were killed and seventy some others were wounded, many losing limbs. A telex from Khadafy to the Libyan embassy in East Berlin was intercepted congratulating them on a job well done. President Reagan retaliated against Libya with airstrikes. Sowell perhaps would not have approved.

Two years after the La Belle bombing Pan Am flight 103 was blown out of the air over Lockerbie Scotland by a bomb planted by a Khadafy accomplice.  Counting all casualties, 270 people were killed by that Khadafy agent. The man was convicted and sentenced to life in a Scottish prison. Eventually, suffering from terminal cancer, he was released to return to Libya where he received a hero’s welcome from Khadafy when he stepped from his plane.

Sowell believes that because this tribal country was reduced to chaos when this butcher was removed, diplomacy failed. He should share his views with the relatives of the Pan Am 103 victims.

Sowell then regales us with examples in which a democratic governance is not appropriate. There are many of these: army platoons do not vote on whether or not to move here or there; families rarely vote on whether or not sister Jennie should continue seeing her boyfriend. Government is different, or at least most Americans believe it should be different. Sowell claims that political parties can do just as they please even to ignoring the voters.

In the same paper that carried Sowell’s comments, we have a column by Pat Buchanan, another right winger, but one with a slightly different take on this situation. He says, “The rules are the rules says Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus… Priebus is correct the rules are the rules. But what is also true is that the rules have been and are being manipulated by party elites to frustrate the expressed will of the party electorate and impose a nominee other than the clear winner of the primaries.” Now why don’t you two gentlemen get together and see if you can come to some agreement on this issue.