Milton Friedman may be the most famous American economist. His research and theories have profoundly shaped the modern American economy. But few of us can clearly articulate what he taught and what it means for our times. Friedman’s career was defined by the aftermath of the Great Depression. He worked in the government administering the New Deal, but never really agreed with it. He joined the faculty at the University of Chicago and built a department around him that taught a version of free-market economics known as monetarism. Essentially, monetarism is the idea that inflation is a product of how much money is in circulation. Friedman did not like the Federal Reserve or the gold standard, instead, advocating for a standard 4% increase in the money supply every year that would not be shifted. By setting a rule, he hoped to do away with an entire governmental department.
Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative
Friedman and his co-authors ventured into areas that other economists thought, perhaps, unwise. They used economics to explain things like marriage and school choice. He was also a proponent of school vouchers.
Stanford professor Jennifer Burns joins Chris today to explore the many facets of Milton Friedman. This is the first of two parts.
Sources:
Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative by Jennifer Burns
The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Part to Power by Robert Caro
William F. Buckley Jr. struggled to keep his movement pure against Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, and the John Birch Society
William F. Buckley Jr. helped change the face of conservatism in the US because he gave it intellectual backing. But that doesn’t mean that his ideas were accepted completely. He had several nemesis within his own movement that tried to derail him.
One opponent was the John Birch Society. Buckley’s whole modus operandi was to make conservatism respectable. But Robert Welch and other members of the JBS were using their movement to spread bogus conspiracy theories. They were actively discrediting the movement that Buckley tried to build. So Buckley, National Review, and Barry Goldwater tried to bring it down.
Another enemy was Ayn Rand. Buckley and Rand were libertarians, but they disagreed on something important: religion. Rand was an ardent atheist, while Buckley believed Christianity and conservatism were inseparable. When Buckley started Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) he discovered that his young followers were incorporating many other ideas into their ideology. Rand’s writings were impacting the students. So Buckley had to work to expel those ideas from YAF.
Libertarian economist Murray Rothbard was another enemy. Rothbard actively encouraged his followers to split YAF and leave the organization.
Extremism leads to extremism. Extremism lends itself to ideological purity, which means that groups like YAF were destined to split and split and split again. Buckley has his work cut out for him.
Sources
Buckley: William F Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism by Carl T. Bogus.
The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism by David Farber
Burning Down the House by Andrew Koppelman
Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein
God and Man at Yale by William F. Buckley Jr
Heather Cox Richardson’s YouTube series on the history of the GOP
Hoover Institution article on the impact of Buckley and Firing Line
Senator Robert Taft couldn’t get the nomination. He tried to be the GOP’s nominee for president three different times but could not get elected. Conservative Republicans’ failure to get nominated by their own party was a source of much frustration. What could they do? Concerns of conspiracy spread through people like Phyllis Schlafly whose book A Choice Not an Echo claimed that “elites” were steering the party.
William F. Buckley Jr. and God and Man at Yale
It was in this world that a bright young man with an untraceable accent found his appeal. William F. Buckley Jr. was born into a wealthy family that was deeply Catholic and driven by concern over the New Deal. They were libertarians and wanted a small government. Buckley lived a childhood of privilege, riding horses, playing piano, and mostly private education. His first book, God and Man at Yale, was a sharp critique of his alma mater, stating that they should have done a better job promoting laissez-faire economics and religion. The book was a smash hit, in part, because Yale fought its charges in the press.
William F. Buckley Jr. gives conservatives an intellectual voice
Buckley followed it with a rousing defense of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s tactics in the early 1950s, but the book was published just as the senator was revealed to be the demagogue he was. So Buckley decided to shift his effort to creating a journal of opinion that would appeal to conservatives. National Review became the “it” publication for conservatism in the US, and the most successful journal of opinion in the country. Its greatest impact was giving conservatism an intellectual voice in an era when the “liberal consensus” dominated.
Buckley then went on to start in the PBS television show Firing Line, a funny thing for a libertarian because the show was sponsored, in part, through government funding. Buckley succeeded in giving conservatism an intellectual voice. In the process, he won his greatest victory: convincing Ronald Reagan to become a conservative.
Videos of Buckley
I don’t usually spend a lot of time posting videos like this as proof of an episode, but Buckley is so beloved in some circles that I think it is necessary for this one. The first video is Buckley’s debate with James Baldwin. If you don’t believe that Buckley carried a string of racism, this video should be proof enough. Listen to his response to Baldwin.
The second video I want to share is his interview with the Gablers. One of the things we in the media struggle with is platforming. Who has the right to be boosted by your show? I struggle with this on Truce because I can’t properly screen everyone I have on the program, and I’m just one person. Should Buckley have invited the Gablers on his show?
Sources
Buckley: William F Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism by Cart T. Bogus.
The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism by David Farber
Do you have any personal connection with Buckley? Did you see his shows or read his writings?
Why did conservatism need an intellectual voice?
How did conservatism change between Bob Taft and Buckley?
Buckley believed in a limited government, one that incorporated Christianity. Would you like his version of the American government?
Buckley claimed that he wasn’t racist, but believed that black people were incapable of governing themselves. They should have earned the right to vote in the South. Is this racism?
National Review welcomed segregationists to write in the journal. Would you read a publication like this?
Buckley advocated for a smaller government but also stared in a TV show on public television. Does this strike you as hypocrisy?
