Liberal, Not Conservative
4 October 2007
Editor, Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
I enjoyed George Will's portrait of economist Austan Goolsbee ("The Democratic Economist," October 4). But in that portrayal Mr. Will mistakenly identified the late Milton Friedman as a conservative. Throughout his career Friedman explicitly rejected that label. He insisted, rightly so, that he was a classical liberal - someone who understands that individual decision-making within a regime of private property rights produces maximum, wide-spread prosperity and, more importantly, best enables each of us to pursue our own goals in our own ways.
Because
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
I enjoyed George Will's portrait of economist Austan Goolsbee ("The Democratic Economist," October 4). But in that portrayal Mr. Will mistakenly identified the late Milton Friedman as a conservative. Throughout his career Friedman explicitly rejected that label. He insisted, rightly so, that he was a classical liberal - someone who understands that individual decision-making within a regime of private property rights produces maximum, wide-spread prosperity and, more importantly, best enables each of us to pursue our own goals in our own ways.
Because
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Monday March 31, 2008 at 1:32pm