"Oh, I don't think Tom Sowell would tell anybody to join the administration. That's not his style. But I think his attitude has always been if it had to be done he'd prefer me to do it than somebody else"
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Thomas is doing two things at once: laundering ambition into duty and outsourcing moral cover to a revered conservative elder. By invoking Tom Sowell, he taps a particular brand of right-of-center credibility: the intellectual who disdains Washington’s glamour but still shapes its outcomes. “That’s not his style” flatters Sowell’s anti-bureaucratic persona, and it conveniently frames Thomas’s own move toward power as reluctant, almost burdensome.
The key phrase is “if it had to be done.” It’s passive, bloodless, and politically useful. It suggests government expansion or administrative participation is an unfortunate inevitability, not a choice - which lets Thomas sidestep the charge of hypocrisy that often follows anti-government thinkers who accept government roles. He’s not embracing the machinery; he’s volunteering as the least-bad operator inside it.
Then comes the real subtext: “he’d prefer me to do it than somebody else.” That’s the language of trust and succession, a soft anointment that doesn’t sound like a recommendation but functions like one. It positions Thomas as the acceptable vessel for an enterprise Sowell allegedly disapproves of, turning proximity to power into a kind of moral triage.
Context matters: Thomas’s career sits at the intersection of conservative intellectual networks and Republican governance. This line reads like a preemptive defense against purist critics: I’m not joining the system because I love it; I’m entering because the alternative is worse. It’s a justification built to travel well in movement circles where purity is prized but influence is the prize.
The key phrase is “if it had to be done.” It’s passive, bloodless, and politically useful. It suggests government expansion or administrative participation is an unfortunate inevitability, not a choice - which lets Thomas sidestep the charge of hypocrisy that often follows anti-government thinkers who accept government roles. He’s not embracing the machinery; he’s volunteering as the least-bad operator inside it.
Then comes the real subtext: “he’d prefer me to do it than somebody else.” That’s the language of trust and succession, a soft anointment that doesn’t sound like a recommendation but functions like one. It positions Thomas as the acceptable vessel for an enterprise Sowell allegedly disapproves of, turning proximity to power into a kind of moral triage.
Context matters: Thomas’s career sits at the intersection of conservative intellectual networks and Republican governance. This line reads like a preemptive defense against purist critics: I’m not joining the system because I love it; I’m entering because the alternative is worse. It’s a justification built to travel well in movement circles where purity is prized but influence is the prize.
Quote Details
| Topic | Leadership |
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