rian, as conservative is really to narrow a label to encompass his other views of a limited government. Friedman's belief in a limited government is supported by his desires to restrict the scope of government's authority in the lives of individuals and to decentralize the power base of government to prevent a person's unwanted entanglements with a federal bureaucracy. Friedman's belief is that any one person given the power that officials of the government are given is bound to become corrupted. Therefore, he believes that the original intentions of separation of the branches of government should be enforced more strictly. Friedman says "Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens against crimes against themselves or their property." This entire belief is based simply upon the principles that the United States was founded on. Principles like that of Thomas Jefferson that "government is best that governs least." The economic arena is the major area where Friedman feels government has no right to intrude in the freedom of the collective or individual rights of its constituents. Government should be completely hands-off, laissez-faire when it comes to the private market. Otherwise, the government will only end up doing more harm than good, government should trust in the free market system and support the capitalism that this country is a product of. Friedman very much chooses to follow the beliefs and theories of Adam Smith, who was a free market supporter all the way. Today's liberals support regulation to deal with economic and social problems, where as Friedman supports only an entirely free market of capitalism galore. Milton Friedman has many things to say about the common idea that higher unemployment and slow growth are cures for unemployment. Milton Friedman argues that this is not so, and it's evident jus...
