Today, our nation and the world lost a great mind and an individual dedicated to the advancement of personal freedom. Milton Friedman’s contributions to the study of economics and his ability to articulate its complexities to the public helped awaken the modern conservative movement and advance protections of personal freedoms in this country and around the world. In my life, his writings and works had a tremendous impact on me and helped shape my understanding of public policy as an economics major in college.
Milton Friedman said that, "The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both."
As a nation we can honor the contributions of this brilliant mind by dedicating ourselves to this principle and continually reexamining the effect our government has on the freedoms that have allowed our nation to thrive. For the whole world to know and understand what it means to be free, we need more leaders, teachers, and economists like Milton Freedman.
November 16th, 2006 at 12:00 am
How is it that the major media outlets have largely ignored Milton Friedman’s passing but we all had to endure the 3 day tribute to Ed Bradley last week? Friedman’s philosophy literally transformed our country and will continue to do so. He will be greatly missed but his contributions will live on.