Capitalism and Freedom
The title says it all. Unlike many libertarians, for me it didn’t begin with Ayn Rand, but with Milton Friedman, specifically his classic manifesto, Capitalism and Freedom. This slim volume not only crystallized ideas of which I’d thought but had not well articulated, it also challenged me to look at the political world in a different way – not as a struggle between Left and Right, but between liberty and power. Professor Friedman left the world a better place than he found it, and over the next few days many well-deserved tributes will mention that fact. But for some, like me, the debt to him is more personal (even though I never met him). On an individual level, he gave many of us a profound understanding of what a free society really is, of how it can be threatened, and of the true power of ideas. And for that he deserves our thanks. Rest in Peace.