Milton Friedman on Politics, voting, and legislators
President Reagan’s experience conforms to a political generalization that has repeatedly proved valid: a new administration has some six to nine months in which to achieve major changes; if it does not seize the opportunity to act decisively during that period, it will not have another such opportunity. Further changes come slowly or not at all, and counterattacks develop against the initial changes. … This generalization has a corollary: a candidate for head of state who hopes to make a real difference has to do more than get elected; he or she must have a detailed program of action well worked out before the election.
Context. From the opening chapter of Tyranny of the Status Quo (1984), written with Rose D. Friedman, on Ronald Reagan’s first term. The chapter calls the first six to nine months of his presidency his “honeymoon”, after which “the tyranny of the status quo asserted itself.”
Where this comes from
Checked against the sourceThe wording was checked against the work itself.
Cite this passage
Milton Friedman, “Tyranny of the Status Quo” (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984), Ch. 1 “The Reagan Record: Promise and Performance”, p. 3 (with Rose D. Friedman). https://miltonfriedman.org/quotes/new-administration-six-nine-months-major-changes-1984
Quoted for commentary and research. Rights in the underlying work remain with its rights holder, so cite the work itself, not only this page.
Topics
He also said
If the early successes of a new administration reflect a basic change in public opinion, the apparent lack of further progress after the first six to nine months will be deceptive. The early actions will continue to have their effects after they have disappeared from the front pages. The altered political atmosphere will lead the defeated opposition to modify its political position. Even if the opposition succeeds in returning to power, it will not pursue the same course that it pursued before.
Context. From the opening chapter of Tyranny of the Status Quo (1984), written with Rose D. Friedman, on Ronald Reagan’s first term. It follows the authors’ statement of a political generalization: a new administration has some six to nine months in which to achieve major changes, and needs a detailed program ready before the election.
Tyranny of the Status QuoBook, 1984, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Ch. 1 “The Reagan Record: Promise and Performance”, p. 3 (with Rose D. Friedman)Checked against the sourceFind the bookThis was Reagan’s honeymoon. It lasted about six to nine months. Then the tyranny of the status quo asserted itself. Every special interest that was threatened proceeded to mount a campaign to prevent its particular governmental sinecure from being eliminated.
Context. From the opening chapter of Tyranny of the Status Quo (1984), written with Rose D. Friedman, on Ronald Reagan’s first term. “This” is the early success the chapter has just described: oil price decontrol and Congress’s adoption in 1981 of his tax cuts, spending cuts and increase in defense funds.
Tyranny of the Status QuoBook, 1984, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Ch. 1 “The Reagan Record: Promise and Performance”, p. 2 (with Rose D. Friedman)Checked against the sourceFind the bookThe strongest political influence on a legislative body is exercised by special-interest groups of citizens who favor a government program that confers substantial benefits on them, while imposing small costs on a large number of their fellow citizens. … A corollary is that we cannot correct this situation by electing the “right” people to Congress. Once elected, the “right” people will do the wrong things. And they will be pressured to do so by us, in our capacity as members of special-interest groups, even though we elect them in our capacity as members of a majority outraged by the growth in government’s spending and scope.
Context. From the book’s closing chapter, where the Friedmans set out a numbered list of lessons on how the public will can be translated more effectively into government policy; these are the first two. The ellipsis leaves out one sentence, which calls each such group a corner of an “iron triangle” of beneficiaries, politicians and bureaucrats. The next point says that only the presidency or a constitutional amendment can let the general interest prevail.
Tyranny of the Status QuoBook, 1984, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Ch. 9 “The Iron Triangle: How to Defeat It”, pp. 165–166 (with Rose D. Friedman)Checked against the sourceFind the book
Think this quote is wrong, misattributed, or missing context? Report it and it gets fixed, not argued with.