Stopping illegal immigration would mean that wages would have to rise to a level where Americans would want the jobs currently taken by illegal aliens.
Thomas SowellRead
It is fascinating to watch politicians come up with 'solutions' to problems that are a direct result of their previous solutions. In many cases, the most efficient thing to do would be to repeal their previous solution and stop being so gung-ho for creating new solutions in the future. But, politically, that is the last thing they will do.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Politicians often create problems with their solutions, yet they prefer to keep adding new solutions instead of repealing the original ones.
This quote by Thomas Sowell critiques the cycle of political decision-making, where solutions proposed by politicians frequently lead to new issues that need further solutions. Instead of reevaluating and potentially rescinding ineffective measures, politicians tend to plow ahead with new initiatives, revealing a reluctance to admit mistakes and a tendency to complicate situations rather than simplify them.
Themes
PoliticsSolutionsProblemsRepealDecision-Making
In practice
Example use cases
During a political debate, one could use this quote to highlight how politicians fail to learn from their past mistakes.
More from Thomas Sowell
All quotes →Blacks were not enslaved because they were black but because they were available. Slavery has existed in the world for thousands of years. Whites enslaved other whites in Europe for centuries before the first black was brought to the Western hemisphere. Asians enslaved Europeans. Asians enslaved other Asians. Africans enslaved other Africans, and indeed even today in North Africa, blacks continue to enslave blacks.
Thomas SowellRead
One of the reasons for conspiracy theories is an assumption that people in high places always know what they are doing. When they do something that makes no sense, devious reasons are imagined by conspiracy theorists, when in fact it may be due to plain old ignorance and incompetence.
Thomas SowellRead
You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.
Thomas SowellRead
The real problem, both in discussions of mass shootings and in discussions of gun control, is that too many people are too committed to a vision to allow mere facts to interfere with their beliefs, and the sense of superiority that those beliefs give them.
Thomas SowellRead
Why is history important? Without history, many people have no idea how many of today's half-baked ideas have been tried, again and again - and have repeatedly led to disaster. Most of these ideas are not new. They are just being recycled with re-treaded rhetoric.
Thomas SowellRead
Similar quotes
If I were president, I'd be very glad to see the Palestinians have a nation recognized by the United Nations. There's no downside to it.
Jimmy CarterRead
The first years in Parliament I did nothing - nothing to any purpose. My own distinction was my darling object.
William WilberforceRead
In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
Always, since our birth, we've insisted on another way of doing politics. Now, we had the chance to do it without arms, but without stopping being Zapatistas; that's why we keep the masks on.
Subcomandante MarcosRead
Our democracy's history is littered with names we neither remember nor celebrate - people who stood in the way of progress while protecting the powerful. On Wednesday, a number of senators voted to join that list.
Gabrielle GiffordsRead
Legislative language is governed by a law of etymology that is also the ancient code of the bureaucracy: It doesn't have to be right, it just has to be close enough for government work. If they understand what you mean, it doesn't matter what you say or how you say it.
Molly IvinsRead