“Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself.”

I love Milton. Arguing with him is like stepping deliberately into quicksand all the time thinking how clever you are.....

Person to person dealings can be free with out regulation but in the modern world economy with complex instruments and transactions regulation is a must. I question whether the concept "free market" economics and political freedom are really the same thing. Political freedom includes the right of a people to unite and do things for a common purpose, this common purpose may be anathema to economic freedom and some economic freedom can be anathema to the common purpose.

Liberals and socialists, actually they are the same, want to control everyone and every thing, so they hate the idea of freedom in any form. Folks running around doing business with each other free of government interference is anathema to liberals. They are control freaks.

Friedman's kind of freedom means freedom to monopolize, to steal markets, to drain resources from other countries, and generally to use unfettered laissez faire capitalism to create huge disparities in wealth between the haves and have-nots. He may believe in free markets but definitely not fair markets.

Feudalism was free, the dukes and earls owned everything and with the way things are going we might be returning to that with Trump, Buffet, and Gates. Gates and Buffet have a real common touch however ans say they will not leave their children billions just millions.

Dead on. Obvious truth.

Feudalism is what we will be lucky to get with Obama, Pelosi and Reed.

Feudalism is what they want, but they will only get it if we let then have it. What was it, about 1507 that the peasent revolt took place in England. Everyday people, alot weaker then we are today, revolted and destroyed the feudal system. They set in motion the thirst for freedom, and spread it world wide. It is now upon us, modern everyday people to assure that the spark of freedom dose not die. Men died to give us what we have, but the tyrants never rest. They are always at work figuring out new and more cleaver ways to enslave mankind. This is why the road to freedom is paved with the blood of tyrants and patriots. The tyrants force the issue, not the patriots. The patriots just want to be happy and left alone. There comes a time in history when you can no longer relax. Action is compelled upon us, and as much as we might like to deter it, it seems that we will not be allow to. I can see the rage in the eyes of my fellow Americans. It burns like a fire. It will only be quenched by justice and freedom.

The Peasant revolt was 1381 and ended when Wat Tyler went alone to Smithfield to negotiate with Richard II, the Mayor of London, and various other dignitaries for reform. Tyler ended up stabbed to death. The lesson is when you go against powerful government dignitaries, always take someone to watch your back and never trust the government because you will inevitably end up like Wat Tyler.

Yes my time table was off, and yes Wat Tyler was there to discuss terms and conditions, but was murdered insted. However stunned the mobs were, their desire for freedom was set in motion. The Magna Charter, the british constitution, the American revolution, the American constitution, as well as the rest of history is the result of those brave souls who taught us how to be men. The lesson should never be lost. Do not trust tyrants, defeat them.

By the way Ken, you sound to me like you do some traveling. I'm in the east. have you been there? We really need a Tyler.

I used to do some business travel to the Schenectady area several years ago but none lately. I don't think I'd like to volunteer for Wat Tyler duty, though. If you want to, I've got your back.;-)

A foolish statement. "The love of money is the root of all evil." We need another Abraham Lincoln or John F. Kennedy, to implement J F K's Executive Order 11110, returning to the Congress its duties regarding money, as set out in the constitution. Sadly, there is no such person available, it seems. And if one were to try to implement EO 11110, he would swiftly be dispatched, as was Mr. Kennedy.

Ken you hit something on the head. Patriots just want to be left alone. This is part of the problem. Good people just want to do their thing with out being interfered with. The libs are the ones that seek positions as a bureaucrat, politician or media person. That is so they can get some control or influence over others. Leaving each to his own doesn't get society to where the libs want it to go. If the patriots would get energized before the messes were made instead of after we would have it so much better.

I prefer fair trade to free trade... what good is having domestic environmental and moral standards when you can just outsource your company and continue to pollute and abuse workers shamelessly without suffering the consequences?

Dick, if the markets were free, monopolies wouldn't exist for any duration. Government causes and enforces all the long-term monopolies.

Freedom is

Freedom is idea where we are able to pursue to human ideal    The 'free market" on the hand is too be overwhelmed with countless and needless items which divert us from our humanity.  There is much promotion of items and not the justification of these items. True freedom demands justification.

Correction: Freedom is the idea where we release ourselves from the opposing confines in order to achieve the highest human Ideal. The free market, on the other hand, to is to be overwhelmed with countless and needless items which actually have the effort of diverting us from our our humanity. There is much promotion of  multitudes of items and no justification of these products. True freedoms demands justification for anything that enters the environment. This releases us from opposing confines.