I have written some rather scathing articles on Thomas Sowell. They go back a long way. One of the reasons I have even bothered to write about Sowell is because many libertarians have idolized him.

As far as I know, Sowell is still alive. He will turn 93 at the end of this month, but he no longer publishes articles.

Sowell certainly had a talent for writing. His writing was clear, concise, and oftentimes convincing. He was very good on economics when it didn’t involve the topic of central banking. He was very good on his writings about race.

I made the case in January 2012 that Sowell is far from being a libertarian. I called him an elitist and a moron, and I don’t typically call names. It was my frustration coming through when Sowell was being critical of Ron Paul and those who supported him.

I went after Sowell again in 2015 when he wrote an article in favor of vaccines, to put it mildly. My article was titled “Thomas Sowell: A Statist’s View on Vaccines“. It was in response to an article written by Sowell about vaccines and autism.

Sowell Never Was in the Liberty Camp

I still see things to this day praising Sowell. It is people who are generally in the pro liberty camp who will sing his praises. I often see quotes attributed to Sowell that were supposedly a warning to today’s increasing totalitarianism.

I recently read an article discussing the COVID vaccines. This was from someone criticizing the vaccines and mandates. Yet, one of the commenters referenced Thomas Sowell and his warnings about government and authoritarianism. This person obviously didn’t know what Sowell’s position was on vaccines.

In that 2015 article by Sowell, he said there were false claims that linked autism with vaccines. Sowell claimed that the number of children who had autism had remained relatively stable. It was just that the definition had changed.

I think it is quite evident that autism has increased dramatically in our world today (or in 2015) as compared to a couple of generations ago. But I can see where people would have disagreements here, just as there are disagreements on whether any increase is due to vaccines.

But the kicker in Sowell’s article is the last sentence. He says:

“Some say the decision to vaccinate or not should be the parents’ choice. That would be fine if their child would live isolated from other children. But that is impossible.”

In other words, since that is impossible, Sowell favored mandatory vaccination by the state.

Replace Measles with COVID

Sowell specifically referenced measles in his article. I’m not sure why he didn’t reference the MMR vaccine, which includes measles, because this is the vaccine that is most often claimed has a link to autism.

Before the 1970s, measles was a common occurrence. For most kids, it meant a few days sick at home. With anything, there are always risks. It was possible to die from (or with) the measles, but it was extremely rare. I would say it was far more rare than getting autism.

You can watch an old episode of The Brady Bunch where all of the kids get the measles. There was no panic that their lives were in danger. It is hard for them to go back and change the narrative now.

Anyway, Sowell was very clear in 2015 that it should not be the choice of parents whether or not to vaccinate their kids. Since children couldn’t live isolated, they should not have that decision. Presumably, that decision would be made by the state.

Sowell specifically wrote an article on this. It wasn’t some throwaway line in an interview. So if Sowell favored forced vaccination in 2015 for something like the measles, then surely he would have favored forced vaccination for COVID in 2021.

Unless Sowell changed his views in his late 80s or early 90s, then he supported Joe Biden’s COVID “vaccine” mandates. After all, it wasn’t possible for people to live in isolation. So according to Sowell, it isn’t their decision. It is the government’s decision.

Anti Liberty

Some people got annoyed by my articles criticizing Sowell in 2012 and 2015. Sure, they say, he wasn’t a perfect libertarian or he wasn’t perfect on every issue, but he was generally great in favor of liberty.

I don’t really care how many great books he wrote or how many great quotes there are by Sowell. He wasn’t just off on a couple of issues. He was terrible on the biggest issues. He was terrible on foreign policy, and he was terrible on the issue of central banking. And on top of it all, he favored mandatory vaccination.

I don’t care how great Sowell might have been on race or tax issues or explaining supply and demand. He got the really critical issues wrong. And it was positions like his in 2015 on forced vaccination that led us to the forced COVID shots in 2021.

Sowell wasn’t just off on a few issues. He was part of the problem. How many people read his 2015 article and accepted that it was ok to favor forced vaccination and still be in the liberty camp?

We can directly thank people like Thomas Sowell who set the stage for Joe Biden COVID shot mandates in 2021. I think libertarians should really stop praising the guy so much. He was wrong on all of the most important issues.