Milton Friedman on freedom and equality
Friedman's claim that a society putting equality before freedom gets neither, and that one putting freedom first gets a large measure of both.
11 passages in the archive2 checked against the source9 not yet checked
Every friend of freedom … must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence.
The Wall Street JournalColumn, 1989, Wall Street JournalNot yet checkedThe 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 man in one sense; in their inequality in another.
Capitalism and FreedomBook, 1962, Ch. 12 The Alleviation of Poverty, 2002 edition, p. 195Not yet checkedNeither country is an ideal democracy—just as we are not. Both have serious racial problems—just as we have. Both can be justly criticized for not moving faster to eliminate discrimination—just as we can. But both provide a larger measure of freedom and affluence for all their residents—black and white—than most other countries of Africa.
RhodesiaColumn, 1976, Newsweek, May 3, 1976; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, April 29, 1976, pp. 11979 to 11980, introduced by Representative John Ashbrook of Ohio, who gives it as “an excellent article on Rhodesia by Milton Friedman, which appeared in the May 3 edition of Newsweek”, Congressional Record, April 29, 1976, p. 11979Checked against the sourceRead the originalThe nineteenth-century liberal regarded an extension of freedom as the most effective way to promote welfare and equality; the twentieth-century liberal regards welfare and equality as either prerequisites of or alternatives to freedom.
Capitalism and FreedomBook, 1962, Introduction, p. 5Not yet checkedYou can only aim at equality by giving some people the right to take things from others. And what ultimately happens when you aim for equality is that A and B decide what C should do for D, except that they take a bit of commission off on the way.”
In my opinion, a society that aims for equality before liberty will end up with neither equality nor liberty. A society that aims first for liberty will not end up with equality, but it will end up with a closer approach to equality than any other kind of system that has ever been developed.
In the past century a myth has grown up that free market capitalism—equality of opportunity as we have interpreted that term—increases such inequalities, that it is a system under which the rich exploit the poor. Nothing could be further from the truth. Wherever the free market has been permitted to operate, wherever anything approaching equality of opportunity has existed, the ordinary man has been able to attain levels of living never dreamed of before. Nowhere is the gap between rich and poor wider, nowhere are the rich richer and the poor poorer, than in those societies that do not permit the free market to operate.
Free to ChooseBook, 1980, Ch. 5 “Created Equal”, p. 146Not yet checkedThe relation of the whites to the blacks is complex: a large dose of paternalism, social separation, discrimination in land ownership, and little or no official discrimination in other respects. In particular, there is no evidence of that petty apartheid—separate post-office entrances, toilets, and the like—that was our shame in the South and that I find so galling in South Africa.
RhodesiaColumn, 1976, Newsweek, May 3, 1976; reprinted in the Congressional Record, Extensions of Remarks, April 29, 1976, pp. 11979 to 11980, introduced by Representative John Ashbrook of Ohio, who gives it as “an excellent article on Rhodesia by Milton Friedman, which appeared in the May 3 edition of Newsweek”, Congressional Record, April 29, 1976, p. 11979Checked against the sourceRead the originalThe society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both.
A 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.
Free to ChooseBook, 1980, Ch. 5 “Created Equal”, p. 148Not yet checkedWhen the law interferes with people's pursuit of their own values, they will try to find a way around. They will evade the law, they will break the law, or they will leave the country. Few of us believe in a moral code that justifies forcing people to give up much of what they produce to finance payments to persons they do not know for purposes they may not approve of. When the law contradicts what most people regard as moral and proper, they will break the law—whether the law is enacted in the name of a noble ideal such as equality or in the naked interest of one group at the expense of another. Only fear of punishment, not a sense of justice and morality, will lead people to obey the law.
Free to ChooseBook, 1980, Ch. 5 “Created Equal”, p. 145Not yet checked
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