Milton Friedman on Freedom and equality
This concept of equality of opportunity offers no conflict at all with the concept of freedom. On the contrary, they reinforce one another, and it is no doubt the concept that even today is most widely held. But in the 20th century, beginning especially abroad and at a later date in this country, a very different concept, a very different ideal, has begun to emerge. That is the ideal that everyone should be equal in income, in level of living, in what he has. The idea that the economic race should be so arranged that everybody ends at the finish line at the same time, rather than that everyone starts at the beginning line at the same time. This concept raises a very serious problem for freedom. It is clearly in conflict with it, since it requires that the freedom of some be restricted in order to provide greater benefits to others.
Context. Narrating the episode’s close. “This concept” is equality of opportunity, which he has just described as everyone having the same opportunity to make what he could of his capacities, with careers open on the basis of talent.
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Milton Friedman, “Created Equal” (PBS, 1980), Free to Choose (1980), vol. 5, at 27:04. https://miltonfriedman.org/quotes/equality-of-opportunity-no-conflict-equality-of-outcome-conflict-1980
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He also said
The heart of the liberal philosophy is a belief in the dignity of the individual, in his freedom to make the most of his capacities and opportunities according to his own lights, subject only to the proviso that he not interfere with the freedom of other individuals to do the same. This implies a belief in the equality of men in one sense; in their inequality in another. Each man has an equal right to freedom. This is an important and fundamental right precisely because men are different, because one man will want to do different things with his freedom than another, and in the process can contribute more than another to the general culture of the society in which many men live. The liberal will therefore distinguish sharply between equality of rights and equality of opportunity, on the one hand, and material equality or equality of outcome on the other.
Capitalism and FreedomBook, 1962, Ch. 12 “The Alleviation of Poverty”, p. 195Checked against the sourceFind the bookA society that puts equality—in the sense of equality of outcome—ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests. On the other hand, a society that puts freedom first will, as a happy by-product, end up with both greater freedom and greater equality.
Our problems have arisen from good people who are trying to do good, but trying to do good in a fundamentally flawed way. The welfare state is in many ways a noble construct, a noble concept. It's the concept that we ought to help our fellow men. … What flaws it is that it's one thing for you to help me out of your pocket. It's another thing for you to help me out of his pocket. And the fundamental flaw of the welfare state, in my opinion, is the idea that you should do good with somebody else's money.
Context. Right after saying that the strategic necessity is a change in the climate of opinion that substitutes a belief in individual responsibility for what he calls the false belief in social responsibility, and that the problems have not come from evil people or a conspiracy.
The Open MindInterview, 1977, The Open Mind, hosted by Richard Heffner, Episode “A Nobel Laureate on the American Economy” (May 3, 1977)Checked against the sourceWatch it
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