A Great Champion of Liberty

November 16, 2006 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

by Timothy Sandefur

The Pacific Legal Foundation has issued this press release on the passing of Dr. Milton Friedman, America's foremost defender of liberty, who died earlier today at the age of 94:

All of the staff at of Pacific Legal Foundation join me in saluting the memory of Professor Friedman, one of our era's great champions of freedom. Throughout the second half of the 20th Century, he was the world's leading voice for limited government, free markets, and individual liberty. He offered a devastating intellectual critique of big government in all its varieties – collectivism, socialism, and all other forms of state micromanagement of people's lives and livelihoods. The force of his arguments helped turn the intellectual tide and reawakened people to the crucial importance of our constitutional guarantees of free markets, private property, and individual freedom.

Milton Friedman's courageous and compelling arguments for a free economy have served as a prime inspiration for our work at Pacific Legal Foundation. Milton Friedman was an originator of the modern concept of school choice, and PLF has served as one of the nation's leading litigators supporting school choice programs. Milton Friedman argued relentlessly for the importance of property rights, and PLF litigates nationwide against government schemes to curtail those rights. Milton Friedman believed that economic liberty and prosperity go hand in hand, and PLF goes to court to defend free markets and a free economy.

Along with all people who have been enriched by his vision and nourished by his intellect, PLF cherishes the memory of this great American.

Also, I have some personal reflections at my home weblog, Positive Liberty.