If we are to define the role of government in a free society, we must first specify the needs a government is expected to provide. Defense from foreign enemies and protection of property, including the enforcement of private contracts, are clearly legitimate functions of government. But when we come to two other functions of government—providing a substitute for voluntary cooperation when it appears impossible to achieve, and providing for irresponsible individuals— the justification is much less clear-cut. In a free society people should be able to take risks but should not be able to force others to pay the consequences. If the proper limitations of government action were observed, the government would not do many things it now does. We should not resort to government regulations until we have adequately explored the possibilities for coordinating our activities through voluntary means. If we understood the implications of our own values, we would not allow ourselves to be “front men” for values we oppose, merely because we are confused about the meaning of freedom and the legitimate role of government in a free society. As Milton Friedman puts it, “It’s often forgotten that a corollary to freedom of speech is freedom to listen. Freedom of speech does not mean the right to force anybody to listen to what you have to say. Freedom of speech means the freedom to stand up, and hire a hall and offer to speak, and let anybody come who wants to listen to you. (It’s) a very sharp contrast to that kind of freedom is the freedom that was suggested back in the days of World War II by Franklin Roosevelt, when he spoke of the four freedoms and spoke of the freedom from want. That’s a very different kind of freedom.” Hear what else he has to say about the role of government in the podcast above, Milton Friedman Speaks – The Role of Government in a Free Society.

Is Capitalism humane? According to Milton Friedman, the question is irrelevant. Capitalism per se is not humane or inhumane; nor is Socialism. If we compare the two in terms of results, it is clear that only capitalism fosters equality and works toward social justice. The one is based on the principle of voluntary cooperation and free exchange, the other on force of position and power. In a free economy, it is hard to do good. You either have to use your own hard-earned money to do it or work hard to persuade others to your course. But by the same token, it is difficult to do harm because by preventing a concentration of power, capitalism prevents people from committing sustained, serious harm. Is capitalism humane or inhumane? It is neither. But it tends to give free rein to the human values of human beings. In this program, Milton states, “The argument used to be about strictly the form of economic organization: should we have government control of production and distribution, or should we have a market control? And the argument used to be made in terms of the supposedly greater efficiency of centralized government and of centralized control. Nobody makes that argument anymore…But the interesting thing is that nonetheless, there is widespread opposition to capitalism as a system of organization and there is widespread support for some vague system labeled socialism.” Hear what else he has to say on this question in the podcast above, Milton Friedman Speaks – Is Capitalism Humane?

According to Milton Friedman, five myths cloud our perception of both the past and the present. (1) The “robber baron” myth which holds that in late nineteenth-century America there were powerful men who became rich at the expense of the poor. The reality is that they became wealthy by being productive, and that there is no other period in history which saw such a rapid and widespread improvement in the well-being of the average individual. (2) The myth that the Great Depression was caused by a failure of business. It was, in fact, produced by a failure of government and specifically by the Federal Reserve System. (3) The myth that government in the economy has expanded in response to public demand. Actually, the public has had to be sold “hard” for politicians to enact every major social program. (4) The “free lunch” myth. No matter how the government raises money—by taxing individuals, by taxing businesses, or by printing more money — it is the individual who pays. (5) The myth that government, like Robin Hood, transfers wealth from the rich to the poor. The reality is that the government usually transfers wealth and income from both the very rich and the very poor to those in the middle. As Milton put it, these five myths all come to a head  with one over-riding theme, “There has been a drastic shift in public attitudes and public opinions in the past fifty years or so with respect to the role of the individual on the one hand, and the role of government and collective institutions on the other. There has been a shift in the philosophy and attitudes of the public from a belief in individual responsibility, from a belief in a society in which the role of government was as an umpire, to a belief in a society in which the emphasis is on social responsibility, and the role of government as big brother and protector of the individual.” Hear what else Milton has to say on the matter in the above podcast, Milton Friedman Speaks – Milton Friedman Speaks – Myths that Conceal Reality.

Is America still the land of opportunity or is it a land worn thin showing much bureaucracy and less freedom? Dr. Friedman’s view of America’s present situation is not sanguine. He identifies the chief problem and its corollary solution: We must restore the prestige and influence of the single mechanism most responsible for America’s greatness— the free market. Our greatest defense against becoming over-governed is the free market. In the words of Milton Friedman, “(I ask) whether America is the land of opportunity which produced over the past two hundred years the greatest freedom and prosperity for the widest range of people that the world has ever seen, whether it still is the land in which people of many races, many beliefs, many origins, are free to cooperate together to achieve their separate objectives while at the same time retaining a diversity of values and opinions. Is that still America, or is America what it has seemed to be becoming these past few decades? Is America not what it has been, not the land of promise of the past two hundred years, but is it instead a land of growing bureaucracy and diminishing freedom? Is it a land of squabbling groups seeking to control the political levers of power, of divisive tend­encies that are producing not merely variety, not merely diversity, but open conflict?” Hear one of the greatest thinkers of the 20th Century elaborate on his point in the above podcast, Milton Friedman Speaks – What is America?