If ever there was a time to make an outside-the-box pick for secretary of the Treasury, it is now. And while it might be seen as symbolic, it is well beyond well-deserved, and would be an inspired pick for multiple righteous reasons. With that in mind, the person I believe to be the most worthy of such a selection is 94-year-old economist Thomas Sowell.

When I was a child of poverty, often living in majority-Black housing projects, I remember that parents would speak of Sowell bursting with pride. Come 1987, when I worked in the Reagan White House, staffer after staffer not only quoted the Harvard-educated Sowell on a regular basis, but believed him to be one of the best financial minds and political philosophers in the history of our nation.

Today, in 2024, my mixed-raced, highly educated nephews — among many other young people I know — still believe him to be the best financial mind and political philosopher in the country. They quote him to me on a regular basis.

Sowell, a Black man who overcame abject poverty and constant discrimination, served our nation as a Marine during the Korean war. He took night classes at Howard University........

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