Milton Friedman: Equality Before Liberty?

Should we all be equal? Is such an ideal possible? Perhaps we should only be equal in opportunity, which is after all the function of Liberty. Watch as Milton Friedman dissects a fundamental debate at the core of contemporary politics.

source: FreeToChooseNetwork YouTube channel

(see video at the bottom of transcript)

transcript:

Student:

Is it possible to build a system based on this equality, which I believe that many people agree on and would not be willing to sacrifice to the liberty of …

Milton Friedman:

In my opinion, a society that aims for equality before liberty will end up with neither equality nor liberty. And a society that aims first for liberty will not end up with equality, but it will end up with a closer approach to equality than any other kind of system that has ever been developed.

You can only aim at equality by giving some people the right to take things from others. And what ultimately happens when you aim at equality is that A and B decide what C shall do for D. Except that they take a bit of a commission off on the way.