Applying Some of Friedman's Wisdom

Tweet ^[1]

As Milton Friedman said, "cats don’t bark ^[2]":

16 November 2006

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty
Street
New York, NY 10281

Dear Editor:

Re "Pelosi and Pork ^[3]"
(Nov. 16):

Reflecting on the recent election, I conclude that people can
be divided into three groups.  Members of the first group (consisting of
left-liberals and some conservatives) imagine that society is a consciously
created machine requiring an operator and a bevy of busy technicians to keep it
working properly.  Members of the second group (consisting of libertarians and
some conservatives) understand that society is a complex and undesigned organism
that, when rules of private property are well-enough entrenched, works quite
well according to its own logic – a working that is typically disrupted for the
worse by government meddling.

The third group is made up of politicians
and their hangers-on: they see society as a she-goat to be milked for their own
power and glory.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

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