Liberty Quotes

"A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it ... gives people what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself." -- Milton Friedman (1912-2006) Nobel Prize-winning economist, economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan, "ultimate guru of the free-market system" Source: Capitalism and Freedom (1962) Ch. 1 "The Relation Between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom", 2002 edition, page 15
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Milton.Friedman.Quote.FB75

"If you look at the drug war from a purely economic point of view, the role of the government is to protect the drug cartel. That's literally true." -- Milton Friedman (1912-2006) Nobel Prize-winning economist, economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan, "ultimate guru of the free-market system" Source: America's Drug Forum interview (1991)"America's Drug Forum" (1991)
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Milton.Friedman.Quote.A9A4

"It's a moral problem that the government is making into criminals people, who may be doing something you and I don't approve of, but who are doing something that hurts nobody else. Most of the arrests for drugs are for possession by casual users. Now here's somebody who wants to smoke a marijuana cigarette. If he's caught, he goes to jail. Now is that moral? Is that proper? I think it's absolutely disgraceful that our government, supposed to be our government, should be in the position of converting people who are not harming others into criminals, of destroying their lives, putting them in jail. That's the issue to me. The economic issue comes in only for explaining why it has those effects. But the economic reasons are not the reasons." -- Milton Friedman (1912-2006) Nobel Prize-winning economist, economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan, "ultimate guru of the free-market system" Source: America's Drug Forum interview (1991)"America's Drug Forum" (1991)
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Milton.Friedman.Quote.93B1