Walking On Water

The people of the Democratic Underground website welcomed him to hell, Michael Strong said, “he was probably responsible for more human happiness and well-being than any other individual in the 20th century-- advancing the cause of Liberty more than any other person.” Who are they talking about? - Economist Milton Friedman.

The Economist magazine called him, “the most influential economist of the second half of the 20th century, possibly of all of it.” Former Fed Chairman, Alan Greenspan, had this to say, “he was one of a very few people over the generations who have ideas that are sufficiently original to materially alter the direction of civilization.”

Milton Friedman passed away November 16th of last year at the age of 94. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently declared January 29, 2007: “Milton Friedman Day.” Airing on that same night was a PBS special dedicated to Friedman entitled, “The Power of Choice.”

Friedman, ironically, began his career as a Keynesian “New Dealer,” but later converted to the Classical Liberal point of view of Laissez-faire Capitalism. This is not to be confused with today’s “liberal” politics of the Left- in fact, it’s just the opposite. One of the reasons for his conversion involved a key analysis he developed which showed how the Great Depression was, in actuality, more the effect of a damaging over-use of government power- in the area of unwise monetary policy- than it was the effect of some mysterious under-use of government power. His resulting monetarist conclusions put him on the path to rewriting many of the major economic theories of his generation.

In 1992, an interesting situation emerged that would forever secure the legacy of Milton Friedman’s theories. Mart Laar, at age 32, was elected prime minister of Estonia. He had read one book on economics, “Free to Choose” by Milton Friedman. Facing a terrible fiscal crisis and having nothing to lose, Laar initiated Friedman’s policies of: Free Trade, Low Flat Taxes and Privatization. Now, his country is known as “The Baltic Tiger,” and is among the top 10 most free economies of the World. It is the most successful of all the post-communist Soviet economies enjoying an amazing annual growth rate of 7%. His political retractors claimed it couldn’t be done, that it was impossible, like “walking on water.” Laar, who was awarded the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty by the Cato Institute in 2006, said it was based simply on a fundamental belief in the People of Estonia. The creative energies of individual initiative were unleashed and the Estonians became incredibly empowered through the freedoms of LESS government intrusion upon their lives. Does this sound familiar? It should, because these policies of minimizing the role of government in a free market as a means of creating political and social freedom informed the administrations of two other prominent governments in recent years: Reagan and Thatcher.

Mart Laar, like Reagan and Thatcher before him, followed an idea of placing faith in the people and in their natural abilities to satisfy their own needs through free enterprise. He believed that you shouldn’t punish Achievers in your society through “progressive” taxation- a major thesis of communism- but rather, encourage Achievers to create something more for themselves with optimism, hope and a renewed motivation to dream big dreams. For Laar, this is what Freedom is all about, and it’s something that the old Soviet system could never produce.

Prime Minister Laar said he knew Friedman’s policies had a chance to work because the
communists hated him so much, calling him “dangerous!” He reasoned that Friedman must be a “good” man if he could elicit so much fear from the Soviets! Quoting Reagan at the Cato award ceremony, Larr said, “the difference between Marxists and anti-Marxists is that the Marxists read Karl Marx’s books and the anti-Marxists UNDERSTAND them!” He added, “my experience with communism taught me how wrong it is. They hate the words ‘free’ and ‘choose.’” Besides Milton Friedman, Laar expressed a great fondness for Reagan saying, “he was the first politician in my lifetime who was not afraid to speak the truth and call the Soviet Union an Evil Empire.”

Ironically, the advice that most often came from Western economists during this time of Laar’s administration involved the advocacy of Big Government solutions. It’s a long way from Reagan’s 80s, when he built a movement on the words, “government is not the solution to our problems, government IS the problem.” This relapse involves the modern love-affair with Che Guevara and Hugo Chavez, among other Marxists. It reveals a disturbing trend according to Laar. He believes not enough has been done over the years to educate the deceived masses regarding the evils of all forms of Marxist governments. The task, as Laar sees it, is to one day regard the Communists as just as evil as the Nazis.

Upon the passing of Milton Friedman, Mart Larr had this to say,
Milton Friedman’s legacy in the modern world is the best proof that ideas really do matter. In the Soviet Union there was no place for ideas such as freedom, free choice, human initiatives or dignity. Human beings did not have any value there. Friedman’s ideas of liberty and free markets are the most powerful weapons in the fight against different kinds of dictatorships- in helping to break away from state control. Supporting free initiative and the people’s choice will
allow countries to build up prosperous societies and develop human happiness. His economic policies- flourishing as they are in my country- provide living proof that the ideas of Milton Friedman really work. Now that his ideas have been tested, it is easy to say that Friedman is right and Marx is wrong. Too many countries in the world are trying to ignore the ideas of liberty. They know that the teachings of Marx allow them more easily to control and rule their
people. The ideas of Milton Friedman make people free—that is the reason why they are not liked in countries with big government or real dictatorship. The best help we can give the modern world is to keep the heritage of Milton Friedman really alive. No, even more, to develop the cause of freedom everywhere, in the West and in the East because all of us deserve to be free! Without liberty our life is empty and meaningless. Liberty is what raises our spirit. Thank You Mr. Friedman. When we can all move in the direction you have shown us- we can make this world a better place.


“If Estonia is not a vindication of everything we believe in- from free trade to privatization to sound money to balanced budgets- I am at a loss as to how else one could validate our ideas.” Former GOP House Majority Leader, Dick Armey.

There is no collective means to individual success.
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