Happy Milton Friedman Day
Today is Milton Friedman Day, a celebration of the life of one the greatest evangelists for liberalism.
Let us use this day to remember the essential creed of liberalism, that the individual should be as free as possible to pursue their own ends and that government should not interfere with this.
However you think it best to promote this, whether you agree with all Milton Friedman had to say (some think he went to far, others not far enough), that is what he stood for and what he tirelessly promoted.
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January 29th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Milton Friedman was NOT A LIBERAL. He was a libertarian, but in no way a Liberal!
January 29th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
This is an argument about semantics.
“Libertarianism” is an American attempt to find a name for liberalism. The USA was founded on liberal principles to such an extent that they were taken as read, so that the term was not used in ideological debate. It was later coined by social reformers who were in fact more interested in equality than liberty, and hence the old guard (which in America was liberal rather than what we would consider conservative) were seen as libertarian in counterweight to the egalitarian self-styled “liberals”.
And the People’s Popular Front of Judea (splitters!).….
Another way to look at it is the debate between what one might call the “Gladstone Liberals” and the “Lloyd George Liberals”.
In the end, however, we’re quibbling. If you believe that society should allow the individual the maximum amount of freedom possible such that it does not limit the freedom of others, then Milton Friedman is an inspiration.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Milton Friedman was not a Liberal (ie he was not a member of the Liberal Party) but he was definitely a liberal.
His concern was individual freedom - which is the central creed of liberalism. His other concern was the wellbeing of people, of all people. He opposed many measures, not solely on ideology, but because they were failing and having the opposite effect.
As for libertarian/liberal - as Tom says libertarianism is a form of liberalism, I’d go so far to say that many US liberals are not liberal, they’re collectivists - which goes directly against liberalism.
Note its also possible to be a Liberal but not be a liberal - Chamberlain was arguably in this category, I’m sure there are others people can think of…