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Free To Choose Network

Building support for personal, economic, and political freedom with entertaining media.

Free To Choose® Network is a global media 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that brought you Milton Friedman’s original 1980 10-part television series, Free To Choose. It continues to use accessible and entertaining media to build popular support for capitalism as well as personal and political freedom.

01/07/2026

Since 2021, over 5 million people have discovered why Thomas Sowell is considered one of the most influential economists and political philosophers of our era. Five years after its release, "Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World" continues to introduce new audiences to Sowell's insights on race, history, and economics—ideas that remain as relevant today as when he first articulated them.

Watch the full documentary to see the journey from humble beginnings to the Hoover Institution, and find out why so many consider him "the smartest person in the room." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK4M9iJrgto&list=PLTplBPPoWdX3s5JHEWFEIpS-deSE27u62

01/06/2026

Markets aren't just about money—they're about power. When economic decisions are made by millions of individuals rather than a handful of bureaucrats, authority gets distributed instead of concentrated. That's the real stakes of the capitalism debate: who gets to make decisions about your life.

01/05/2026

The setup: It’s 1978 and President Carter announces a major tax cut. $25 billion. Politicians debate whether to go bigger or smaller. Americans anticipate relief.

Friedman's analysis: Look at all the numbers.

Social Security payroll taxes were being increased. A bill marketed as "energy policy" was actually raising substantial new taxes. And inflation—the silent tax collector—was pushing more income into higher brackets without anyone voting for it.

Add it all up: The increases exceeded the proposed cuts. Total tax burden was rising.

"The plain fact is that nobody is proposing to cut taxes. What is being proposed is simply to shift taxes from one kind to another."

If you call a tax shuffle a "tax cut," does it become one?

01/03/2026

When people talk about fixing economic problems, they often point to the president. But as Milton Friedman explains in this clip, understanding where power actually resides matters more than knowing who sits in the Oval Office.

The Federal Reserve controls monetary policy. Congress controls spending through appropriations. The president has influence over both, but direct control over neither.

This distinction becomes crucial when economic crises demand action. Knowing which levers exist, who can pull them, and how citizens can influence those decisions determines whether problems get solved or simply blamed on (or credited to) the wrong people.

01/01/2026

Happy New Year from everyone at Free To Choose Network! Here's to 2026—a year of fresh starts, big ideas, and the freedom to set resolutions we might actually keep this time.

12/30/2025

“The heart of the liberal philosophy is a belief in the dignity of the individual, in his freedom to make the most of his capacities and opportunities according to his own lights, subject only to the proviso that he not interfere with the freedom of other individuals to do the same.”

Freedom isn't about getting what you want at someone else's expense. It's about creating the conditions where everyone can pursue their own version of success—on their own terms, through their own effort.

Milton Friedman understood that real dignity comes from agency, not control. The liberal tradition he championed wasn't about top-down planning or collective mandates. It was about trusting people to figure out their own paths forward, as long as they respect everyone else's right to do the same.

That simple principle—mutual respect for individual liberty—is what makes prosperity possible. It's also what makes a genuinely free society worth defending.

12/29/2025

Everyone agrees taxes need reform. But agreement on a problem doesn't mean we're pursuing the right solution.

According to Milton Friedman, we've been trying the same failed approach for years. Congressional committees debate tax structure. State legislatures propose adjustments. Nothing changes. Government spending—and the taxes that fund it—keeps climbing.

His prescription was radical in its simplicity: Stop trying to reform taxes. Focus on reducing them.

"The only effective tax reform is tax reduction. There is no other way."

12/26/2025

In 1978, an audience member asked Milton Friedman which economic system gives poor people the greatest chance to improve their lives. His answer: look at the evidence. Compare societies with more freedom to those with less, and the pattern becomes unmistakable—the freer the system, the better off ordinary people become.

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas from everyone at Free To Choose Network! Here's to a holiday season filled with joy, prosperity, and—above all—choice (especially regarding cookies)!

12/24/2025

It wasn't only a complete disregard for the knowledge problem that led to the 2008 financial crisis. It was a set of perverse incentives that created an environment where the people making decisions about how to control markets were never going to be the ones who suffered the consequences if things went wrong.

This setup of privatized gains with socialized losses is called "moral hazard," and it is always a recipe for disaster.

In the latest installment of our capitalism blog series, we take a hard look and the incentive structures that led to the 2008 crisis and why divorcing actions from consequences is never a good idea. https://blog.freetochoosenetwork.org/2025/12/how-moral-hazard-inflated-the-2008-housing-bubble/

12/23/2025

Thomas Sowell understands that the best gifts aren't always wrapped in the fanciest paper. Books offer something most holiday presents can't: ideas that compound over time, perspectives that challenge assumptions, and knowledge that actually appreciates in value. While others stress over whether the sweater fits or the gadget breaks, you've given someone tools to think differently about the world. That's a gift that keeps giving long after the wrapping paper hits the recycling bin.

12/22/2025

We dedicate a significant portion of our working lives to supporting governmental activities at federal, state, and local levels. We all have programs we support and ones we oppose. But, if you polled Americans asking whether they're getting their money's worth for the taxes spent by government bureaucrats on their behalf, how many would say yes? Milton Friedman says almost nobody does with one very small exception.

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