Congressman John Campbell's Blog - Green Eyeshade Blog

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Posted by: John Campbell at 9:49 AM

Today I want to take a moment and honor one of the world’s most preeminent advocate for free markets and personal liberty, Milton Friedman. Friedman helped shape the fiscal policy across the world, and Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher looked to him for advice.

Milton Friedman did not invent free markets, but he proved that laissez-faire policies must be at the foundation of any free society. Friedman was a statistician, economist, and public servant who advanced the idea of freedom based on minimizing government involvement to achieve economic, social, and political freedom.

According to the Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan, "There are very few people over the generations who have ideas that are sufficiently original to materially alter the direction of civilization. Milton is one of those very few people."

I cannot agree more. Milton Friedman’s worked influenced many, including this Conservative.

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Sean writes:	Thursday, July, 31, 2008 10:23 AM
Cato Institute
He was a great thinker, and Cato was right to have an award named for one of the greatest economic minds in the last 100 years.
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Ben writes:	Thursday, July, 31, 2008 10:31 AM
Remembering a Hero: Milton Friedman
Please refer to this wonderful tribute to Friedman for more insight on his influence in economics around the world. http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/AndrewPMcIndoe/2008/07/3 1/remembering_a_hero_milton_friedman
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Joe, Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm Right writes:	Thursday, July, 31, 2008 11:18 AM
Milton Friedman's "Children"
(in an intellectual sense, not a physical sense) are all over South America, Asia and elsewhere (including of course here at home). If Adam Smith was...well Adam, and Marx played the role of the snake, Friedman is the economic Abraham.
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Pasadena Phil writes:	Thursday, July, 31, 2008 11:59 PM
Important to point out that
Milton Friedman's philosophies and economics were not intended to create the massive, unfunded government we now have. It is disingenuous for Republicans to praise Friedman considering the mess they have created in their "reaching across their aisle" bipartisan pigout at the public trough. It seems that it just doesn't matter whose economic theory is in fashion. In government, all roads lead to bigger and bigger government. Keynsian economics didn't fail, politicians failed. Friedman's Chicago School of economics didn't fail, politicians failed. Just spend and then print money. And now we have to choose between two big government liberals for president? Vote Bob Barr.
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johninoregon writes:	Friday, August, 01, 2008 10:47 PM
A fallible man with a ridiculous agenda
For people inclined to worship Friedman and his work, I recommend a potent antidote: "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein. One of the saddest things in reading it is to recognize how blind Friedman was to the devastation wrought by the implementation of his policies in various countries.
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ConservativeJoe writes:	Sunday, August, 03, 2008 10:56 PM
Here's to Friedman
Too bad Bush/McCain don't share his views. If you would like to meet people who agree with Friedman, stop by the Ron Paul convention. If you like deficit tax and spend, feel free to head for the Bush/McCain family circus.
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Pasadena Phil writes:	Sunday, August, 03, 2008 11:06 PM
RonPaulRevolution
I hope Ron Paul does a better job with his convention than he did with his campaign. I was hoping he would open a national dialogue over some very important issues that we desperately need to discuss in this country but all he accomplished was unleashing a lot of nutty followers. I expect he will get his one-day of coverage by the media and if he is as lucent then as he is testifying on the House Financial Services Committee, it should give everyone some red meat to pin McCain's "fiscal conservative" ears back.
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ConservativeJoe writes:	Sunday, August, 03, 2008 11:15 PM
Phil
Milton Friedman and Ron Paul were friends for years up until Freeman passed away. Speaking of Dr. Paul, Friedman had this to say. "We very badly need to have more Representatives in the House who understand in a principled way the importance of property rights and religious freedom for the preservation and extension of human freedom in general ...l wish you every success." --Dr. Milton Friedman, Nobel prize recipient, economics And here is what another Republican, a Republican who the party has turned its back on, had to say about Ron Paul. "Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country." --U.S. President Ronald Reagan But because he won’t support the sludge that now runs the Republican Party, Paul must be dismissed as a nut. Way to go townhall bloggers. Keep the sludge in power should be your motto.
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Joe, Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm Right writes:	Sunday, August, 03, 2008 11:31 PM
Friedman was for limited government
and freedom. Pasadena Phil is right, this is something the Republican Party has seemed to forget. Nanny statism, social conservatives, and other trends tend to get in the way of small "l" libertarian principals and fiscal conservatism. I agree we need to get back to those Friedman fundamentals. I mean, if it works in Dubai, Singapore, and Chile, shouldn't we trust those old school American principals to work back here at home again? But does that mean the answer is voting third party to show the GOP a lesson? Does this really help us? No. Barack Obama and the Dems under Pelosi and Reid are not going to be a slightly left version of what the GOP has been over the last eight years. They are going to be a lot worse.
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Joe, Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm Right writes:	Sunday, August, 03, 2008 11:32 PM
I do not see the wisdom in helping elect
Barack Obama over John McCain.
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Pasadena Phil writes:	Sunday, August, 03, 2008 11:33 PM
RonPaulRevolution
I believe that were Paul to team up with Ross Perot and endorse Barr or Baldwin, it would redefine the election. It would at least attract enough voters to deny the winner a mandate. I see a lot of Ron Paul in Congressional live coverage and he is one of the very few House members who actually says intelligent things. But he needs to learn from Ross Perot on how to communicate past the media and his detractors like Perot did with his chart presentations and simple concise analyses. Bush used to talk effectively past the media early on. Reagan did it all the time and Perot did it too. No one is doing it this year opting to stick to script.
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ConservativeJoe writes:	Sunday, August, 03, 2008 11:50 PM
Real Conservatives Back McCain
House cleaning is distasteful and there are always people who get upset when their guy does not get the nomination. But sometimes house cleaning is in order. In my view, the Bush 41 defeat in 1992 was good for the Republican Party and good for the country. Most Congressional Republicans are Conservatives who will push for a Conservative agenda. But when a guy with an R by his name, who is not conservative or competent, is in the White House, people in the same party who are in Congress are in an impossible position. After 1992, Congressional Republicans were released from having to carry the water of Bush idiocy. This led to Congressional takeover in 1994 with Republican leadership that actually represented a Conservative direction. The economy from 1994 to 2000 was quite good. Unfortunately, Republicans in 2000 had to start carrying another Bush’s water, and its been slow going ever since. To claim the Bush 41 defeat gave us 8 years of Bill Clinton is not the case. There was no reason the Republicans were ordained to lose again in 1996. I’m not an Obamacon. And I’m not writing in Ron Paul either. But I bet his convention will be refreshing -- which is more that I can say for the Bush/McCain trainwreck.
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About John Campbell

John Campbell is a member of the House Financial Services Committee, and has taken a leadership role in addressing the country's top economic issues. Campbell serves as a member of the Joint Economic Committee, and House Committee on the Budget. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from UCLA and a Master's Degree in Taxation from USC.