Video: Milton Friedman on making the wrong people do the right thing

In the discussion below about the vices and virtues of a certain presidential candidate, I'm reminded of this Milton Friedman statement:



Steyn, by way of introduction to After America's epilogue, "The Hope of Audacity," quotes the great Professor Friedman:

I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or it they try, they will shortly be out of office. [AA, p. 325]

That most desirable climate is now in fact being established, and it's the grass-roots, smaller-government Tea Party movement that's doing the establishing.

What we need to do is nominate the most conservative candidates possible and then relentlessly hold their feet to the fire. More and more Americans are coming to understand this.

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