preview

Capitalism and Freedom Term Paper

Decent Essays

Term Paper Capitalism and Freedom, written by Milton Friedman, seems to focus significantly on the connections between the economics and politics, and the effect that those have in various aspects of society. This relationship was referred to throughout the book, and the topics Friedman discusses ranged between governmental control of money, to foreign policy and trade and the effect that has on our economy. Through the course of the book, Friedman constantly refers to his “classical liberal” view, which focuses on the freedoms and power of the individual in society. Friedman shows his support of this view during the book using the idea of a laissez-faire government. For Freidman, government involvement in issues regarding society should …show more content…

I feel that a recent example is the conservative’s shift from pro-life to pro-choice. More people have been leaning toward pro-choice, so the republican platform was altered to appeal to the majority. Government and politics shifted to resemble the views of the nation. In a socialist or communist society, however, the government would take the entire control of these views, and the thoughts of the majority would probably not be heard. This brings me back to the fact that the capitalistic view brings about much more freedom than just what comes in the market, but also within politics. The necessity of appealing to the majority results in competition, which results in the approach to perfection of efficiency and also to bring about “unanimity without conformity” by letting everyone’s views be heard and a general consensus made about which decision is best for society as a whole. Once this decision is made, Friedman believes that the government should do what they can to uphold what was decided by the nation as a whole. Another focus that Milton Friedman addresses is how economics and politics are very closely related. Some form of democracy is required in order to have a capitalist system, and according to Friedman, “a society which is socialist cannot also be democratic.” (pg. 8) On the more extreme side, it would be impossible for a governmentally communist society to have any sort of true fiscal democracy. There would be no way

Get Access