Sowell: Trump’s talk is bad — really bad; Hillary’s actions are worse

Meanwhile, President Obama tried to downplay ISIS with flippant words, by calling them the junior varsity. His half-hearted, foot-dragging military response has allowed ISIS to parade before the world as triumphant conquerors, appealing to disgruntled people in Western countries to carry out terrorist attacks.

That is a lot worse than some stupid and gross words by Donald Trump, which even he has had to repudiate. Make no mistake about it. Neither party has a good candidate for president. The choice is between bad and disastrous.

Are women more in danger from Trump’s words or Hillary’s actions? Are Americans in general more in danger from Trump’s shallowness on issues or Clinton’s grabs for money and power?

Clinton’s own announced agenda attacks the very foundation of American constitutional government, on which Americans’ own freedom depends. She has already said that she will appoint Supreme Court justices who will specifically overturn a recent Supreme Court decision, “Citizens United v. FEC.”

That decision said that both corporations and labor unions have freedom of speech, including the right to contribute money toward political campaigns.

Clinton’s determination to pick judicial appointees on the basis of their willingness to overturn that decision is a more brazen extension of the political left’s other attempts to stifle the free speech of those who oppose their agenda. Without the right to free speech, none of the other rights are safe. Government officials can get away with all sorts of abuses, if others are not free to talk about them.

Harmful policies

Despite Clinton’s claims to be a champion for black people, her agenda threatens the education of black children, the employment of black adults and the physical safety of black communities.

Clinton is on the side of the teachers’ unions that want to stop the expansion of charter schools, even though these are among the very few places where black children can get a quality education. Here, as with other issues, her public statements are contradicted by her actions.

No law has done more damage to the employment prospects of young blacks than the minimum wage. But nothing is easier, or more popular, than for some politician to raise the minimum wage — despite the fact that unemployment rates among black young people have skyrocketed to several times what they were before.

You don’t get any wage at all when you are unemployed. And if you are young and unemployed, you don’t get any job experience to help you rise up the ladder, when you don’t get on the ladder.

As for safety in the black community, Clinton has allied herself with those who demonize the police. The result has been a sharp increase in the number of blacks killed by blacks, as criminal elements take control of the streets when the police are not allowed.

Do you choose a president by talk — or by actions and consequences?