Milton Friedman on Libertarianism and Humility

On August 14, 1990, at the International Society for Individual Liberty's 5th World Libertarian Conference, Milton Friedman took a step back from the details of public policy issues and discussed basic libertarian beliefs and values. "I have no right to coerce someone else," he said, "because I cannot be sure that I'm right and he is wrong."

Read more about and by Milton Friedman at http://www.Libertarianism.org

Download an .mp3 version of this lecture here: http://bit.ly/xIHn2w

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[Hemi2050]

What the heck? The world economy crashed because of government intervention, fiscal and monetary. It crashed because he was ignored...

[Willsturd]

What the fuck? Libertarians have never been in power... EVER. This idea that even though Libertarians have never been near control, that their "ideas" have caused misery.... How the hell is that even possible. Ask yourself this, which political parties have been in power throughout the entire world. THen ask yourself who has caused all these depressions and crashes. You'll see its the republicans, democrats, and socialists. Libertarians aren't anywhere near that list.... Idiot.

[Saga Gemini]

How acurate are his words even today. If you dare speak of a monetary system other than the gold standard to the Von Mises Institute, you'll be called an idiot and a fake libertarian. I have yet to find any solutions proposed by them to the flaws of the gold standard in today's financial reality... That's what happens when you adhere to a school too religiously; you're right and everyone else is wrong. If those libertarians had any humility they'd have listened to this great man.

[999999999999999410]

ludwig von mises

[Clay Workman]

2013 and Libertarians are still just saying, "here's the ideal."

[Hemi2050]

Democracy is tyranny of the majority, 51% over the other 49%. That is semi-dictatorship. Even then, those 51% are not in perfect agreement on policy. Democracies also tend to self destruct over time as we can now clearly see.

The Somali people are much better off now after the collapse of their Government and want to keep it that way.

You are correct, it is much more like anarcho-syndicalism than the current dictatorial system.

[Auraruth8]

I gotta say that sounds pretty nice(although I resent the term mob rule, seems like a terme used to uphold tyranny). It almost sounds pre-capitalist almost anarcho-syndicalist...

[Hemi2050]

No, the people are not governed, they have almost complete free choice. North Somalia is much more peaceful, warlords are produced as a result of outside interference. The attempt to force democracy on their population. They do not want to submit to "mob rule", they want free choice.

[Auraruth8]

Isnt that a form of government, a way to enforce the social contracts and other stuff? But arent these calns fighting a lot?

[Hemi2050]

Somali people arrange themselves in social units called Clans. Each social unit has its own judge. The judge carefully chosen by clan elders. If he makes unsatisfactory judgments, he will no longer be asked to judge particular cases. When an offense is committed, the victim goes to his judge, who will approach the judge of the aggressor.

If they cannot resolve the conflict, they will create a court with additional judges from their extended family.

[Auraruth8]

But how can a contract be enforced without someone beeing there to enforce it?

[Hemi2050]

There is no government in Somalia and the markets are thriving.  Of course they have a very long way to go, just as Hong Kong and Singapore did. But your assertion that free markets require government is incorrect.