MILTON FRIEDMAN AT 90: Champion of freedom and economist
Milton Friedman turns 90 today and
Arnold Beichman marks the occasion with a tribute in today's Washington Times.
Friedman's record of achievement is a testament to the enduring power of good ideas even when those ideas aren't popular. Beichman writes that "many of his ideas, which were regarded only yesterday as outrageous by the liberal-left, have become widely accepted and in some cases, have even become the law of the land. School vouchers, a volunteer army, decriminalization of drugs, privatization of Social Security, abandonment of government licensing and floating exchange rates are some of the ideas conceived or improved upon by Milton. From a military standpoint, probably the most important of his ideas was that the government should abolish the draft and introduce an all-volunteer army of professionals. That, too, was a revolutionary proposal. President Nixon adopted the idea, and it was that volunteer force that won the Gulf War and the war in Afghanistan, and which is now preparing for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein."
And why, Beichman asks, did Milton turn down a career in government? The answer is classic Friedman: "Abraham Lincoln talked about a government of the people, by the people, for the people . . . Today, we have a government of the people, by the bureaucrats, for the bureaucrats, including in the bureaucrats the elected members of Congress, because that has become a bureaucracy too."
