Friedman Liked Divided Government Too

An enjoyable survey at Reason of various libertarian types and their take on whether the coming era of divided government will be good for the country and/or libertarian ideals. The part that caught my eye and prompted a post was a tasty tidbit, where Carolyn Lochhead quotes Milton Friedman as telling her "There's no question, if we're holding down spending, a Democratic president and a Republican House and Senate is the proper combination."

So, while teased posthumously in this space for a (I allege) foolish allegiance to the GOP, it does seem that Uncle Miltie saw the light later in life. Good for him. Now if we can only return to the halcyon days of the 90's, when a brilliant philanderer and a hypocritical bomb-thrower inadvertently collaborated to restrain the growth rate of government, just enough to make a real difference! Oh yeah, there were also a couple of modest tax hikes under Daddy Bush and Clinton, that either actually raised revenue, or at least did not inhibit economic growth all that much, so that the economy grew faster than the government, for a while. Again, I say, so much for "starve the beast". Divide the beast, maybe, but the starving just doesn't work!