rted affirmative action in the first place? All of these questions lead back to one common denominator-the government. In his book, Race and Culture, Thomas Sowell demolishes the widely held view that minority cultures benefit from government intervention. He explains why the government has used its power to plunder minority cultures. “One of the key self-serving myths to emerge is that blacks owe their economic and social advancement to the civil rights victories of the sixties.” The fact of the matter is that the economic rise was greater in the forties and fifties than in the later decades. The government wants us to believe them when they boast of putting an end to desegregation. Sowell explains why government sanctioned multiculturalism is doomed. “Reflecting Adam Smith’s famous insight about progress being limited by the size of a market, Sowell explains that the size of the cultural universe is fundamental to cultural progress, so this conclusion has grim implications for organized attempts to Balkanize societies in the name of cultural identify or multiculturalism, as in late twentieth century America, Britain, Canada, or Australia, for example.” He also emphasizes the crucial stimulus of immigrants. He notes,”immigrants seldom brought much wealth to a new land. In fact, they frequently started in dirty, low paying jobs. Since large number of immigrants lacked political connections, they DiLorenzo 10 went into commerce rather than government. Commerce gives people incentives to be thrifty, reliable and peaceful qualities essential for success.” This can be applied to every culture not just the America. When people are allowed to explore their cultural values freely without government intervention, they do best. Applying this to the black culture, I am not saying affirmative action and the civil rights movement was bad. What I am saying is blacks have not advanced in this...
