Friedman’s Economic and Political Mechanismįriedman asserts early on that protection of individual freedom is his primary goal since “the great advances of civilization have never come from centralized government” (11). In this paper, by applying a consequentialist lens of scrutiny onto Capitalism and Freedom, I will prove that Friedman’s argument concerning the necessity of a free economy for political freedom does not consider enough present real-world repercussions of capitalism, nor is it consistent with Friedman’s fundamental goal of power decentralization. Although Friedman’s discourse appears impressive, it ultimately consists of internal contradictions as well as neglect for the economic and political consequences of capitalism. One of Friedman’s key claims in Capitalism and Freedom is that “economic freedom is an indispensable means towards the achievement of political freedom” (15) - essentially, economic freedom is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for political freedom. In his book Capitalism and Freedom, economist Milton Friedman (1912–2006) attempts to integrate the principles of political freedom and economic freedom with one another. A Criticism of Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom
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