Milton
AT THE RISK OF TRIVIALIZING ONE OF THE GREAT INTELLECTUALS OF modern times, I can’t help but note that Milton Friedman’s passing comes soon after command-and-control Democrats have retaken Congress from spineless Republicans.
Politicians have almost never measured up to the free-market principles that Friedman espoused, but thanks to those occasional times when they have, we’re better off as a society.
In entrepreneurial Orange County, Friedman’s teachings have special resonance. They animate the libertarian editorial pages of the Orange County Register, and they inspire the teachings of the economics department at Chapman University, whose president Jim Doti studied under Friedman at the University of Chicago. Chapman is also home to the Milton Friedman Room, which stores much of his personal library.
Doti said of his friend and mentor: “What made Milton Friedman special was that his search for truth was based not only on rigorous empirical evidence but also on a clear understanding of why people act the way they do. He had an uncanny ability to understand instinctively what makes sense and what does not.”
The greatest thinkers make the complicated simple. I never heard a Friedman speech that didn’t include a memorable takeaway.
My favorite is Friedman’s “invisible foot,” his brilliant corollary to Adam Smith’s invisible hand of capitalism. The corollary being that government in its pursuit of noble objectives invariably does unintended harm.
The war on drugs, public education, urban renewal,pick your subject, and Friedman’s case is manifest.
We’re slow to follow, but Friedman’s teachings will continue to point the way.
Nancy
JUDY ROSENER IS AN EXPERT ON LEADERSHIP AND WE LOVE IT WHEN SHE shares her perspectives on this page.
But I must dissent from her take here on Nancy Pelosi.
There’s little in the Pelosi record to suggest she’ll be a “feminine-style” leader, as Rosener describes it. Pelosi’s reputation is to be combative and polarizing,and that is how she came across in her first leadership test last week, when she failed to get her fellow Democrats to approve her choice for House majority leader.
Professor Judy wrote this piece before that showdown, and Pelosi will have many more chances to show her leadership skills and possibly fulfill Rosener’s hopes for her.
But frankly, I think a persuasive leftist is not what this country needs (see Milton Friedman above).
Gridlock is preferable. So far, Pelosi is doing her part to make that happen.
,Rick Reiff
