Friday digest

- One of the intellectual giants of the 20th century and the godfather of economic libertarianism, Nobel-prize winning economist Milton Friedman, has passed away.

I first discovered Friedman in 1994 when, as a political science undergraduate, I did a presentation on his landmark work "Capitalism and Freedom" for a US politics class. As some readers know, there is nothing scientific about political science programs in Canadian universities, so Friedman's way of thinking - largely rooted in mathematics, empirical data and plain old logic - was pretty new to me. (I have long thought that the phrase "political science" should be outlawed and renamed "political activism", because that's about 90% of what you're taught by so-called "scholars", but I digress.) What Friedman illustrates in "Capitalism and Freedom" is that big government harms more than helps people who are in most need of assistance because it serves its own purposes rather than attending to the needs of those it ostensibly tries to.

These ideas were later solidified for me when, during the late 90's, I took a summer away from my Master's program, again in political science, and interned at the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, a free-market economic think-tank unaffectionately referred to by its detractors as the intellectual wing of the Ku Kulx Klan. Here, I was exposed to Friedman's ideas in more depth and spent time amongst academics who had actually read and considered the man's work rather than dismissing him outright as simply a political opponent, that is, if they even knew who he was.

During many hand-wringing, hysterical debates over "globalization" (the cause celebre of the day during the Clintonian "holiday from history" which preceded 9/11) - when I cited the work of Friedman, the reaction of many of my left-leaning political science grad student colleagues at the time, was "who?" followed by a far-away look in their eyes as they tried to bring the discussion back to a soliloqy on the benefits of central government planning 10 years after the Berlin Wall came down by inserting fancy yet ultimately meaningless phrases like "post-modernism" and "import substitution industrial strategy" to the conversation. Progressive, indeed.

I hope that Friedman's passing will inspire a renaissance of interest in his work. Even if one's political point of view is inclined towards regulation, bureaucratic control, labour market inflexibility and punitive taxation, it would behoove you to include "Capitalism and Freedom" and also "Free to Choose" on your bookshelf to keep your collection well-rounded. Agree with it or not, knowing Friedman is essential for anyone who would like to describe themselves as a serious thinker as it concerns public policy.

An excellent summary of Friedman's arguments comes here from the Financial Post's Terence Corcoran, who nervously concludes that we may not see another like Friedman for some time. No matter, I say, because as the Iron Lady herself famously said, "the facts of life are conservative" - and that's what will keep capitalism and liberty surviving and thriving long into the future.

- Looks like someone went to the Michael Moore school of ethics in film-making. (By the way, Moore comments on the recent US congressional election, here. Seems the only thing that liberals AREN'T going to do for America now is check the kid's Halloween candy to make sure it's safe.)

- On the political correctness front, a Montreal community health centre has excluded men from Lamaze classes so that women of non-Judeo Christian backgrounds won't be offended.

Time to draw up another contract for the diversity consultants so they can enlighten those with objections to the health centre's decision about tolerance, respect and intercultural dialogue.