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Topic: The Vision of the Anointed

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A Conflict of Visions

Thomas Sowell

Libertarian

Honor Harrington

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	National Review: The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation... @ HighBeam Research (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		One notable difference between those with the vision of the anointed and those with the tragic vision is that it tends to be the latter who recognize the role of vision in the first place.
		Sowell's account of vision and its role in political life and the creation of social policy helps to explain the tendency of contemporary elites to shift power from the people and their elected representatives to electorally unaccountable bureaucrats and judges.
		For those with the vision of the anointed, it is up to judges, as experts in cosmic justice no less than in constitutional law, to "solve" the problem.
	highbeam.com /library/doc0.asp?docid=1G1:17443658&... (1237 words)

	Reason: The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy. - book reviews
		The "vision" of the anointed is a world view in which social problems exist because of the negligence or malevolence of the benighted--and thus can be solved by imposing the views of the enlightened few on the rest of society via government action.
		In The Vision of the Anointed, he oscillates between the concrete and the abstract, between analyzing specific programs and policies favored by the left and formulating general principles regarding how such initiatives are conceived and implemented, and why they often fail when measured against their stated objectives.
		To demonstrate that such a pattern is characteristic of the anointed's initiatives, Sowell draws heavily upon examples from the 1960s: the antipoverty programs proposed by the Kennedy administration and initiated by the Johnson administration; the introduction of sex education into public school curricula; and the emphasis in criminal justice on "root causes" and rehabilitation.
	www.findarticles.com /p/articles/mi_m1568/is_n6_v27/ai_17491722 (1205 words)

	Book Review -- The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		The unconstrained vision of the anointed is the view that there are some who have been able to mentally rise above the limitations of the existing social order and who are able to imagine and design plans for the remaking of man and the human condition.
		"No amount of taxation is ever described by the anointed as 'greed' on the part of the government or the clientele of government." "Responsibility" does not mean the individual's accountability for his own actions and their consequences; rather, it refers to the collective guilt of society for creating poverty, crime, or racially biased attitudes.
		After such an insightful analysis of the dangers of the vision of the anointed, it is unfortunate that Dr. Sowell leaves off at the point at which his assistance would be most useful: how to stop the social engineers and reverse the intellectual and cultural environment they have created.
	www.fff.org /freedom/1295h.asp (1088 words)

	Vinod's Blog:Vision of the Annointed
		I read Thomas Sowell's Vision of the Annointed en route from SFO to NYC for New Years 2002/2003.
		The Anointed vision on the other hand is quite clearly adopted by many a social crusader and is predicated on a belief that a perfect plan to address a problem can be concocted and simply needs to be executed by the the government.
		...the hallmark of the vision of the anointed is that what the anointed consider lacking for the kind of social progress they envision is will and power, not knowledge.
	www.vinod.com /blog/Books/VisionoftheAnnointed.html (921 words)

	THE VISION OF THE ANOINTED
		Nevertheless, the concept of "class" is deeply imbedded in the vision of the anointed and has become part of the new secular trinity of race, class, and gender that dominate much of contemporary academic life.
		The heavy emotional investment in the vision of the anointed is often demonstrated by the intellectually desperate methods used to try to support it.
		The anointed can be found concentrated in the former kinds of environments, rather than the latter, just as fish are found in the sea and not on mountaintops, just as it is just the reverse with eagles.
	www.partiesforgrowth.org.nz /artman/publish/article_103.shtml (4478 words)

	Anointed Youth Ministries - About this site (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Anointed Youth was started in the fall of 2002 by Ta'wanna (Tia) L..
		Anointed Youth is not trying to be the best site on the net, but is trying to build a Christian youth community where youth will always feel welcome.
		Anointed Youth strives to help with that focus by promoting safe-havens on the internet and throughout each community.
	anointedyouth.org /about.htm (351 words)

	Issues & Views: The Arrogance of the Anointed
		The "anointed" are those liberal intellectuals and political elites who have shaped social policy for the past several decades and who set the standard by which the rest of us must live.
		Opponents of the prevailing vision are generally depicted as "benighted" through the publications and media outreach of mainstream institutions.
		Sowell claims that since the autonomy of the traditional family is incompatible with the fundamental goals of the anointed, the family is inherently an obstacle.
	www.issues-views.com /index.php/sect/5000/article/2107 (1351 words)

	Reason magazine -- November 1995. Kenneth Silber.
		The "vision" of the anointed is a world view in which social problems exist because of the negligence or malevolence of the benightedand thus can be solved by imposing the views of the enlightened few on the rest of society via government action.
		The Vision of the Anointed also recapitulates Sowell's argument, stated at length in A Conflict of Visions, that underlying many policy disputes are differing assumptions, largely unspoken, about humanity's moral and intellectual capabilities and the range of social possibilities.
		The anointed, unlike their opponents, strive for "cosmic justice"a vision of perfect fairness, in which disadvan tages and inequalities are eliminated by the actions of a benevolent government.
	www.reason.com /9511/SOWELLbk.shtml (1712 words)

	Snyder - 2003, September 16
		By “vision”, Sowell means the collection of assumptions about human nature that underlie the way we interpret events and predict the consequences of real or hypothetical actions and policies.
		In the constrained vision (that of “the benighted”) justice means consistently applying the laws according to their intended meaning.
		In the unconstrained vision (that of “the anointed”), justice means ever striving toward perfection in the sense that we should take into account everyone’s special circumstances and try to “level the playing field” to achieve “cosmic justice”.
	www.opinioneditorials.com /guestcontributors/snyder_20030916.html (1041 words)

	Thomas Sowell
		This is a vision of human beings as livestock to be fed by the government and herded and tended by the anointed.
		The very idea that other people will go where they want, live where they want, how they want, and send their children to whatever schools they choose, is galling to the anointed, for it denies the very specialness that is at the heart of their picture of themselves.
		Guns are completely inappropriate for the kind of sheep-like people the anointed envision or the orderly, prepackaged world in which they are to live.
	jewishworldreview.com /cols/sowell042103.asp (768 words)

	National Review: The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy. - book reviews (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy, by Thomas Sowell (Basic, 295 pp., $25)
		Sowell contrasts the vision of the anointed with "the tragic vision" of conservatives.
		Sowell understands the contest of visions to be a longstanding one in Western culture.
	www.findarticles.com /p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n20_v47/ai_17443658 (1262 words)

	Amazon.com: The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy: Books: Thomas Sowell (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Thomas Sowell's _Vision of the Anointed_ attempts to explain all modern political developments through two platonic visions -- the tragic vision of the benighted, and the vision of the anointed.
		Sowell's visions differ in their assumptions about the nature of man, the nature of the world, and the nature of justice.
		The vision of the anointed conceives the human potential as vast.
	www.amazon.com /exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/046508995X?v=glance (3420 words)

	What's Behind Anti-American Hate?
		The more the American vision of individual freedom prevails, the more the vision of the anointed fails.
		When America frees ordinary people from the domination of their betters, and prevents them for being used as guinea pigs for the vision of the anointed, the more America insults the very presumptions that enable the anointed to think of themselves as special, as one-up on the rest of us.
		Countries that impose a collectivist vision from the top down will be forgiven many atrocities, while a country like the United States that lets individuals go their own way will not even be forgiven its successes, much less its shortcomings.
	www.frontpagemag.com /articles/Printable.asp?ID=14091 (690 words)

	PBS: Think Tank: Transcript for "The Vision of the Anointed"
		Tom Sowell's newbook, 'The Vision of the Anointed,' argues that the assumptions andbeliefs of America's liberal elite have created 30 years of disasterin education, crime and welfare policy.
		His latest book, 'The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulationas the Basis for Social Policy,' has been called a broadside againstthe received wisdom of America's elite liberal intelligentsia.
		And the reason we talk about their vision, even though theyobviously in their opinions, is that the basic set of underlyingassumptions about the world are very similar.
	www.pbs.org /thinktank/transcript229.html (3763 words)

	Pride of Life
		Thus such people view themselves as the anointed and having a vision for how the world should be, and such visions are preserved and insulated from criticism, for the vision is inherently wrapped up with the egos of those who believe it.
		Yet those in positions of power, people who view themselves as the anointed or the elite, even those in religious circles, need to be reminded, that in the past the elite were the ones who often rejected God’s truth, while the common, average person accepted the obvious.
		Sowell notes, “what is intellectually interesting about visions are their assumptions and their reasoning, but what is socially crucial is the extent to which they are resistant to evidence.
	www.ch-of-christ.beaverton.or.us /Pride_of_Life.htm (1823 words)

	Laissez Faire Books
		While the anointed can be vicious toward their critics, they seem to have endless patience toward people whom Sowell refers to as "mascots." These include criminals, disease-carriers and the homeless (two-thirds mentally ill or drug abusers).
		Or the case of a government school teacher who, taken out of the classroom because of active tuberculosis, had her lawsuit against the school system upheld by the Supreme Court on the ground that she was a handicapped victim of discrimination.
		As the anointed use this, it means working for the government which, of course, has nothing to do with authentic service.
	laissezfairebooks.com /index.php?stocknumber=TS8476 (843 words)

	Anti-Anti-Americanism: Will the U.S. tell the world to take this job and shove it? (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		This is a theme which was brillantly stated by Thomas Sowell in 'The Vision of the Anointed" a must read that is very relevant to understanding the anti Americaniam of the Left we are seeing.
		The Vision of the Anointed is a book.
		Vision of the Anointed is a Book written by Dr Sowell in 1995, the number is: ISBN 0-465-08994-1.
	www.freerepublic.com /focus/news/858785/posts (1305 words)

	Compare Prices and Read Reviews on The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy at ... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		In his recent book, “The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy,” Sowell examines the vision of the bureaucratic elite and compares the promised results to actual failures of liberal social policies.
		In fact, the anointed assert that the situation (or the “crisis”) would have gotten much worse if not for the wonderful programs that mitigated the inevitable damage from other factors.
		“The Vision of the Anointed” is a good book to read for anyone with an interest in social policy, as I’m sure you can come up with plenty of examples from your personal experience that fit the 4 stage pattern described by Sowell.
	www.epinions.com /book-review-6675-FA8103-3887D7C5-bd1 (509 words)

	Amazon.ca: Books: The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Their vision is of a world where nothing is impossible, and all "problems" can be "solved" by those with the superior wisdom and virtue necessary to do so, if only they're given unlimited power to carry out their programs.
		Naturally, the government is the best instrument for bringing their vision to bear, with little to no regard for the actual desires of actual people as expressed through the workings of free markets.
		The actions of the Anointed may produce some largely illusory advantages for their mascots, such as bums, criminals, and minorities, but huge numbers of other people typically get the shaft as a result.
	www.amazon.ca /exec/obidos/ASIN/046508995X (1761 words)

	MitchellC
		Thomas Sowell's THE VISION OF THE ANOINTED, pp.
		Those who advocate the free market typically do so as just one aspect of a more general vision in which government's role in the lives of individuals is to be minimized, within limits set by a need to avoid anarchy and a need to maintain military defense against other nations.
		The only logic to such a conception is that it allows disparate opponents of the vision of the anointed to be lumped together and dismissed through guilt by association.
	www.freerepublic.com /~mitchellc (452 words)

	A Matter of Principle ... Paved With Good Intentions (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Whatever quarrels I may have with Dr. Sowell about his own "tragic vision" of the human condition, I nonetheless commend the volume to those who wish to grasp the psychological motives underpinning liberal policies.
		That is, the real-world consequences of their policies are far less important to many statists, than how the advocacy of such policies makes them feel about themselves.
		"The vision of the anointed," as Sowell describes it, ultimately depends upon self-inflicted blindness to practical consequences.
	www.libertyhaven.com /theoreticalorphilosophicalissues/ethics/matterpaved.html (1074 words)

	OpinionJournal - Thinking Things Over
		In "The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy," he argues that the prevailing vision in the press, academy and politics has become so dogmatic that it has lost touch with reality.
		Sowell labels the competing visions "constrained" and "unconstrained." The constrained vision argues that perfection is impossible, that social policy consists of structuring incentives for self-centered men, that life is a series of trade-offs.
		For the path of the unconstrained vision ran through Rosseau, Voltaire and Thomas Paine (a defender of the French Revolution as well as a hero of the American one).
	www.opinionjournal.com /columnists/rbartley?id=110003335 (1044 words)

	Center for Cultural Leadership (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		The anointed, on the other hand, are devoid of self-interest and are willing to sacrifice themselves (that is, expend their obvious, many talents) for the common good.
		The notion that an especially anointed elite should govern society is as old as Plato.
		The philosopher-kings were to be an especially bred elite sequestered from the common herd of humanity and trained for one prime task - to lead the society.
	www.christianculture.com /cgi-local/npublisher/viewnews.cgi?category=3&id=1100568492 (894 words)

	Thoughts as they occur... (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Great social or biological dangers can be averted only by the imposition of the vision of the anointed on less enlightened people by the government.
		Opposition to the vision of the anointed is due not to a different reading of complex and inconclusive evidence, but exists because opponents are lacking, either intellectually or morally, or both.
		Interestingly, "The Vision of the Anointed" emphasizes the position of the infallibility of the anointed, however, Soros is now promoting man's fallibility in the ending statement, "The time is ripe for developing a framework based on our fallibility.
	home.sprintmail.com /~gashford/2004_06_01_myarch.html (8279 words)

	Amazon.de: The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy: English Books (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		One is left with not only a clear sense of what the "vision of the anointed" is, but also what motivates those holding the vision.
		The first three chapters in which he sets forth just what the "vision of the annointed is," along with just what constitutes being "rich" or "poor" provide a powerful discrediting of the basic tenets of leftists.
		He is at his best, however, when he unmasks the intellectually dishonest way in which statists, povertarians, and others who have a vested interest in perpetuating "the vision of the annointed" utilize statistics to further their agenda.
	www.amazon.de /exec/obidos/ASIN/046508995X (1702 words)

	TCS: Tech Central Station - The Downfall of the Anointed (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19)
		Put differently, those who disagree with the prevailing vision are seen as being not merely in error, but in sin.
		For those who have this vision of the world, the anointed and the benighted do not argue on the same moral plane or play by the same cold rules of logic and evidence.
		Dean's supporters, acting out the part of the anointed so aptly described by Sowell, were not up to the task of speaking to people with open minds.
	www.techcentralstation.com /020204A.html (1077 words)

	Alan K. Henderson's Weblog
		In The Vision of the Anointed, Thomas Sowell addressed the competing concepts of justice exhibited by the Tragic and Anointed visions: one prioritizes means over ends, the other ends over means.
		To the Anointed, freedom is the product of social engineering - it is something to be endowed by the Anointed through their provision of what they perceive to be the needs of the masses.
		The Anointed are immune to such costs and, as illustrated recently by Warren Buffet, are insensitive to the individual burdens of the masses.
	alankhenderson.blogspot.com /2003_08_01_alankhenderson_archive.html (14553 words)

	THOMAS SOWELL'S CONSTRAINED VISION OF MAN AND SOCIETY
		Sowell's systematic and systemic approach derives mainly from free-market economics, is methodological rather than philosophical or political, and is consistent with the views of intellectuals such as Adam Smith, Thomas Hobbes, Alexander Hamilton, Edmund Burke, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Friedrich Hayek, and Milton Friedman.
		Sowell's tragic (or constrained) vision of man and society is based on the acceptance of the realities of the human condition — we are all limited by independent realities which we ignore to our own detriment.
		Sowell portrays society as a collection of interconnected and overlapping decision-makers who operate under the inherent constraint of scarcity and consequently face the necessity of dealing with trade-offs — some desirable options must be foregone in order to pursue others.
	www.quebecoislibre.org /010929-12.htm (2941 words)

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