Customer Reviews

The Quest for Cosmic Justice

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This book is good, not great. And the people who would get the most out of this book are those who are most unlikely to read it. If you are already familiar with Sowell, or read Forbes or The Wall Street Journal on a regular basis, then you are already familiar with most of the ideas and concepts in this book. Nonetheless, the book makes for an interesting read. Sowell persuasively points out that many of those seeking "justice" (cosmic or otherwise) frequently don't give a darn about the costs and benefits of their current flavor of justice on society. Sowell provides many examples, and gloomy predictions, about what happens when the liberal elite impose their visions on the rest of us. As an attorney who just graduated from NYU Law School, I couldn't agree more with Sowell's comments regarding how the rule of law is systematically undermined by our nation's elite law schools. Once the rule of law is gone, you decide justice given the judge's present whims, which is awful close to monarchy---which the liberal elite unfortunately fail to recognize. I was taught nothing but contempt for precedent and the rule of law at NYU, I'd even go so far as to say that most of my professors seemed to feel you should just examine each case from the perspective of who you feel is "disadvantaged" and rule for them. After three years of that attempted brainwashing, Sowell's book is like climbing out of a dark cave and realizing light still exists.

Thomas Sowell's "The Quest For Cosmic Justice" is a stab in the heart of left-wing politics. Early in his book, the author makes a clear distinction between traditional ideas of justice and what Mr. Sowell describes as "cosmic justice." Traditional justice is process-oriented. Everyone plays by the same rules and is judged by the same standards. It is a system that "flesh and bone" human beings can live under. Cosmic justice, on the other hand, means providing everyone with equal prospects of success. This concept of "fairness," as morally spurious as it is, becomes outright dangerous when it requires third parties to wield arbitrary power to override rules and control outcomes. These third parties - found in government, universities, the media, and the courts - see a nation desperately in need of cosmic justice. The gap between the rich and poor is supposedly growing, threatening our economic future. The so-called "earnings gap" between men and women is supposedly the child of a sexist society. Police brutality is becoming a high-tech version of lynching. And so on. Of course, many of these "problems" disappear when confronted with real-world experience and statistical evidence. Creating government "solutions" to these "problems" only entrusts more and more power in the hands of people further and further removed from the real world. To allow any government authority to determine how much money you receive for your work is not only a distortion of the economic process but is a dehumanizing attempt in reducing everyone to political clients. Government price controls on food, supposed to help the poor, have led to widespread hunger in countries around the world. Undermining law enforcement because of its perceived unfairness to minorities have led to high crime rates which hurt minorities most of all. The passion for equality - which somehow became twisted into racial preferences - has led to a divorce of performance and reward, which is to say a divorce between incentive and behavior - perhaps the most crucial foundation of Western civilization. Yet theories of cosmic justice and the public policy that springs from them are unlikely to be re-examined. Why should they be re-examined when they permit its advocates to feel morally superior to everyone else? Meanwhile, those who believe in systematic processes - the marketplace, traditional values, constitutional law (namely, most Americans) are suspected. Mr. Sowell's book is an excellent indictment of "cosmic justice" and an excellent defense of traditional ideas of process and the rule of law. Unfortunately, those who should read this book most will probably read it least.

As I read this book, the thoughts of arrogance, condescension, and hubris came to mind - not towards the author - but towards the subjects of his discussion. Certainly one cannot fault the social engineers and institutional "tinkerers" for their intentions. However, intentions are not the measure of success - results are.

The policies of the "anointed" have become gospel, not subject to debate or empirical verification. In essence, anyone who disagrees with them or offers another approach is necessarily opposed to the intentions of those holding the true "gospel" of social harmony, prosperity, and peace.

But this substitute for evidence and effectiveness has failed the most important element - those who are the intended beneficiaries of the "anointed" policies. The efforts to "equalize" and pursue "cosmic justice" not only have few success stories - but rather there is an abundance of proof to show that their policies are counter-productive and even harmful.

But never mind the petty details! We're merely interested in doing the right thing, having the right motives, having our hearts in the right place, etc. Consequences be damned! We know what works best! The conquest for social justice will not be deterred by such things as uncooperative human beings, lack of success, or the Rule of Law.

This book is an excellent follow-up to Sowell's "Vision of the Anointed" as it drives home the point that those who embrace visions of cosmic ideals are embarking upon an endeavor requiring super-human skill. And their pursuit in spite of this fact does good for no one - not the least of which are those who they claim to want to help. In pursuit of their cosmic ideals, the visionaries have become impervious to the reality that frustrates their plans.

It is past time to cease the game of demonizing those that disagree with the ideas and policies of the "anointed." It's time for the "gods of social justice" to admit their humanity and potential for failure - to re-open discussion so that the business of genuinely helping people can take place.

For those interested in an outside observer's perspective (i.e. outside the circle of the "anointed") on the practicality and efficacy of the modern vision of social justice, this book is a must read. Those who are part of the "anointed" or supporters of the same are going to find Sowell's assessment disturbing. Nevertheless, a symbolic gesture from an "anointed" would be his willingness to abandon his self-righteousness by reading this book with an open heart and mind.

"You can't change the rules in the middle of the game." "Hey, you just made that rule up." "You're cheating!" Kids on a playground arguing? No, adults in our judicial and political systems. In the first section of The Quest for Cosmic Justice, Thomas Sowell takes us on a tour of the world through time to display examples of childlike behavior in adults. He discusses two types of justice. Traditional justice is process-based: make up the rules before the game, everybody plays by the same rules, and the end result is left open. Cosmic justice is ends-oriented: have rules, but fiddle with them so that the game ends as someone wants it to.

In the second section of the book, Dr. Sowell examines equality, a much bandied-about word, but slippery in the extreme as to what it means. If we have learned anything from science it is that defining terms is crucial to progress - unless one is pursuing cosmic justice, of course. He talks of ". . . politically imposed equality . . . poisonous relations between the races and sexes . . . internal dissensions and demoralization have played a crucial role in the decline and fall of other civilizations, and there is no reason to expect this one to be immune."

Visions, their necessity for humans to operate and the things that can go wrong with them, are treated in the third section. The final section concerns the quiet repeal of the American Revolution. Comparisons of the French Revolution to the American Revolution were very informative, at least to me. I remembered an awful lot of heads got chopped off in France, but hadn't made the connection between that and the philosophy underlying the French Revolution. "At the national level as well, the 'Committee of Public Safety' under Robespierre ruled by decrees that could over-ride any laws."

Now, let's see . . . are Executive Orders when Congress doesn't do what the President wants equivalent to Robespierre's decrees that led to the guillotine?

Woe to those who willingly ignore and reject this brilliant prose. Anyone concerned with a tiny group of intellectual elites searching for the "better way" must read and heed. Mr. Sowell lays out in simple context how the continuing social experimentation on our country's laws and culture will finally reduce this great nation to one of consumate misery; all in the name of "Cosmic Justice."

I have noticed that every single Kirkus Review I have read on Amazon is extremely biased and almost always negative. Why do I picture a bunch of academic liberals lashing out at a world that wants nothing to do with them? Who are these Kirkus people anyway and why does anyone care about their whiney opinions? I think Amazon would do their site a favor by ditching the Kirkus Reviews until they can hire some critics that are a little more objective or can at least do a better job of disguising their political beliefs.

Thomas Sowell is one of our finest thinkers. One of the most important facts he shows, with painstaking detail and with witty insight is that some of the well intentioned efforts at correcting "cosmic injustices" create greater injustices, and cause more suffering than had principles of "traditional justice" been followed. In other words, the interventionist cure is often worse than the disease. I thought it was great when he said that we may be bothered by inequalities that exist, but we can't be God like on Creation Day and say, "Let there be justice!" and expect the universe to conform. I challenge proponents of affirmative action, followers of John Rawls, and other radical egalitarians to successfully counter the arguments in this book, based on facts, rather than wishful thinking.

Thomas Sowell has a superb talent for explaining issues in a manner that is logical and to the point. "The Quest for Cosmic Justice" is his latest book that vividly explains why socialism can never work and has been a disaster everytime and everywhere it has been implemented. He shows how our search for cosmic justice, instead of traditional justice, leads to a myriad of disasters. Traditional justice involves the rules under which real people must interact daily whereas cosmic justice encompasses theoretical abstractions. If you enjoyed Sowell's earlier book, "The Vision of the Anointed," you will love this one. If you haven't read it, treat yourself and read them both. See political correctness exposed for what it really is when confronted with the facts.

Thomas Sowell just gets better and better. His lucid, unpretentious prose makes this profound examination of the central political problem of our time a compelling read. I stayed up all night to finish it.

Now that the complete purge of clear thinking among our academic elite is near complete, it may surprise a few to learn that some American intellectuals haven't lost their courage--nor their willingness to challenge the untested but assumed notions of the academy. Sowell singlehandedly revives my faith in America's intellectuals. All political theorists must now contend with Sowell's book; and doubtless they will be overmatched.