ABSTRACT
As an observer of the relationship between economics and politics, Milton Friedman is best known as a defender of the close affinity between competitive capitalism and a free polity. His writings on political economy show a remarkable consistency and fidelity to a few simple truths, which he states again and again in his popular works. For many years Friedman was primarily a gadfly on the sluggish horse of Keynesian economic orthodoxy, issuing repeated warnings about the bad effects of even well-intentioned government intervention. An analysis of Friedman’s thought brings back all of the old dilemmas of liberalism that have made it vulnerable to attacks from both the Left and the Right. Friedman’s liberalism begins with the assumption that freedom is a necessary condition for the realization of the good life. According to Friedman, the problem that so many intellectuals have with freedom and a free market is that they simply do not like the results.
