Walter Williams, RIP

 I rarely tear up at the passing of public figures. Even though I've been steeped in music my entire life, the passing of musical heroes rarely evokes an emotional enough response that I do a bit of blubbering. That's true in other realms as well. I noted the passing of, say, William Buckley or Roger Scruton with solemnity and rekindled admiration, but I kept my feelings in check. I always thought there was something a little forced about that kind of thing. There are so many aspects to the lives of those we don't know personally that, if subjected to the light of day, would bring larger-than-life figures down to the human level. 

But the passing of Walter Williams got to me. 

He brought a clarity to the defense of economic freedom that was unique. 

The interesting details of his life have been well-noted over the past few days: coming from the same Philadelphia neighborhood as Bill Cosby, Fat Albert and Weird Harold, making his living as a cab driver before really immersing himself in his academic career, writing a letter to President Kennedy from Korea while serving in the military castigating the government, particularly the Defense Department, for systemic racism, serving as a juvenile group supervisor for the Los Angeles County Probation Department, has early leftward inclination (he preferred Malcolm X to Martin Luther King as a civil-rights icon, embarking on a lifelong friendship with Thomas Sowell while at UCLA. (I didn't know until the other day, however, that NBA legend Julius Irving was his cousin.)

But, as I say, it was the clarity he brought to matters of economics once he'd attained intellectual maturity. He explained why the minimum wage, rent control and most professional licensing are terrible ideas. He pointed out that while slavery is an abominable institution. it's sadly universal throughout human history rather than unique to the development of the West. 

He vehemently opposed redistribution in general.

During the runup to the passage of the "Affordable" Care Act, he put forth this illustration, and I'm paraphrasing a bit, but not much: Suppose you and I are walking down the street and we come upon someone in obviously dire circumstances - sick, possibly injured, clearly destitute. Now, if I were to pull a gun on you and say, "Give me money to get this person some help," we can agree that that would be a dastardly act. Now . . . why would it be any less so if it's the government pulling the gun?

Perhaps the greatest Walter Williams quote of all is this:

But let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you - and why?

We can only pray that someone as dedicated to freedom and as articulate about defending it can rise in our midst.