Of The Dead Speak Nothing But Truth

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Sun, 26 Nov 2006 13:12:18 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

L. Neil Smith at The Libertarian Enterprise - reminds us that whatever good he did, Milton Friedman, the man who gave us income tax withholding, was a minarchist. And that's evil. [tle]

But there's something much more important to understand here, and it is this: so-called minarchism--advocation of a "small", "weak" state--is not libertarianism. Uncle Miltie was a minarchist, and look where his cooperation--his collaboration--with the state got us. Despite fascist and socialist critics already gnawing on his still warm body, he was a moderate by libertarian standards, a gradualist, a "burrower-from-within". As a direct result, the American Productive Class, from that day to this, has been repeatedly and thoroughly sodomized.

So to those who did the same to the Libertarian Party platform in Portland last summer, I say this: you are fooling nobody but yourself. Your actions, your attitudes not only fail to lift the yoke of serfdom from our shoulders, they actively add to the burden we all bear. As much as any jackbooted thug or shiny-pantsed bureaucrat, you are the enemy; your protestations to the contrary fall on ears long deafened by the barking imperatives of the authoritarian state you help to maintain.

So forget ideologies. Forget politics. Forget Republicans versus Democrats, conservatives versus liberals, fascists versus socialists. They're only there to provide an ever-changing panoply of excuses, rationalizations, and justifications. Government is about stealing and nothing else. That's all it's ever been about. That's all it'll ever be about.

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I think the author of the

Submitted by Unlikely_Hero on Wed, 29 Nov 2006 17:46:34 GMT

I think the author of the article has forgotten how much Friedman helped the majority of Americans and is focusing on the negative without even mentioning the positive aspects of the man (unless the positive aspects are to be assumed instead of mentioned explicitly). Here we have a man who started off as a Keynesian, this idea leading to withholding, and ended up as the most public example of free markets in the country. Would I take Mises over Friedman any day of the week? Yes, of course I would. Where did I first see the name of Ludwig Von Mises? I first saw his name reading the wikipedia article on Milton Friedman and following links. Friedman should definitely not be the standard bearer for libertarianism, but he was going up against a country made soft by years of Carter and in which those favoring socialist economics controlled both the house and the senate. I think it is a great deal more productive to look at the good Friedman did along with the imperfections in looking at the life of the man. One going from Keynesianism to Free Markets reminds one of the story of Saul. If the author was just trying to point out to the reader "hey he wasn't perfect!" then I did simply miss the point of the article and I apologize. Otherwise, I hope people will look at the side of Milton Friedman's life that did a great deal of good for those who desire economic and personal freedom (as the two are intertwined)

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