Free To Choose Network

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.

Thomas Sowell understands that the best gifts aren't always wrapped in the fanciest paper. Books offer something most ho...
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.

12/20/2025

Milton Friedman's mother arrived in America at 14 and found work in a garment factory—not glamorous work, but it gave her a foothold. A starting point. The freedom to earn, to learn, to move forward.

The pattern repeats across generations. First jobs aren't meant to be final destinations. They're entry points into economic opportunity, the first rung on a ladder that people climb as they gain skills, language, connections, and confidence.

That's what economic freedom makes possible: not perfection from day one, but the chance to begin somewhere and build from there. The question facing us now is whether we'll preserve that system of opportunity, or continue expanding government control that limits where people can start and how far they can climb.

Lisa Su grew AMD from $4 billion to $23 billion in revenue by ignoring perfect resumes. Instead, she hunts for people wh...
12/19/2025

Lisa Su grew AMD from $4 billion to $23 billion in revenue by ignoring perfect resumes. Instead, she hunts for people who volunteer for the hardest problems.

What made the difference? Su herself was promoted before she was "ready"—from device physicist to running a business, then a company. That experience became her template for building teams.

Are you passing over high-potential hires while waiting for flawless credentials?
Our latest Featured Find explores Su's hiring philosophy. https://blog.freetochoosenetwork.org/2025/12/lisa-su-on-when-you-should-bet-big-on-talent/

12/18/2025

Bad laws don't just fail to solve problems—they actively distort the incentives that make civilized society work. When policy turns mutually beneficial actions into crimes, it creates a world where following the rules conflicts with improving your life.

The illegal immigrant working two jobs to support his family is breaking the law. The citizen collecting benefits without contributing is following it. What does that teach people about the relationship between lawful behavior and moral behavior?

This applies to more than just immigration policy. It's about what happens when government intervention creates incentive structures that reward some behaviors and punish others in ways that conflict with what actually benefits society. If the outcomes we're getting aren't the ones we want, perhaps the artificially imposed rules deserve as much scrutiny as the people responding to them.

Today’s podcast is titled “The Evolution of Socialized Medicine: Health Care Reform Today.”Recorded in 1994, Dennis McCu...
12/18/2025

Today’s podcast is titled “The Evolution of Socialized Medicine: Health Care Reform Today.”

Recorded in 1994, Dennis McCuistion, former Clinical Professor of Corporate Governance and Executive Director of the Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance at the University of Texas at Dallas, past president of the American Medical Association and World Medical Association and author of Code Blue: Health Care in Crisis Dr. Edward Annis and Commissioner of the Texas Department of Health, board-certified pediatrician Dr. David Smith discuss the need for public health infrastructure, tort reform, and the role and effectiveness of government versus market-based solutions.

Listen now, and don’t forget to subscribe to get updates for the Free To Choose Media Podcast. https://blog.freetochoosenetwork.org/podcast/episode-256-the-evolution-of-socialized-medicine-health-care-reform-today-podcast/

Our educational partner izzit.org was selected for Philanthropy Roundtable's inaugural Civics Playbook—an initiative spo...
12/17/2025

Our educational partner izzit.org was selected for Philanthropy Roundtable's inaugural Civics Playbook—an initiative spotlighting educational programs that inspire students to think critically and flourish in a free society.

Free To Choose Network President Rob Chatfield spoke with Philanthropy Roundtable about izzit.org's Teacher Ambassador Program, whose master teachers are helping educators nationwide prepare students for America250.

Learn more about the Civics Playbook: https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/resource/izzit-org/

12/17/2025

Immigration policy reveals a fundamental economic principle: the welfare state and open borders cannot coexist. When people migrate to contribute rather than collect, prosperity multiplies for everyone involved. The newcomer brings skills, ambition, and willingness to work. The established resident gains from new ideas, labor, and markets. Voluntary exchange creates mutual benefit.

But guarantee each person a share of collective resources, and the equation changes entirely. Now immigration becomes a question of division rather than creation. The pot stays the same size while the number of claimants grows. Before 1914, America had essentially open immigration and minimal welfare programs. Today, we have extensive entitlements and restricted immigration. That's not a coincidence.

What makes a society prosperous isn't managing the distribution of existing wealth—it's creating conditions where wealth can be created in the first place.

12/16/2025

For half a century, this principle has shaped how we defend ourselves—voluntary service by those who believe the cause is worth fighting for. It raises a fundamental question about how we fund and deploy our military: Are we allocating resources to missions Americans would willingly defend? The true cost of defense isn't just measured in dollars and equipment, but in whether our strategies honor the voluntary commitment of those who serve.

Watch The True Cost of Defense to explore how military spending decisions affect the Americans who answer the call. https://www.freetochoosenetwork.org/programs/true_cost_of_defense/

12/15/2025

Are consumer protection laws really protecting you? Milton Friedman argues most of these regulations simply enact the prejudices of organized lobbying groups. When the government decides you can't use saccharin, are you being protected or restricted? Friedman makes the case that competition and free trade—not government mandates—provides the most effective consumer protection.

12/12/2025

Reputation has always been the real protector of consumers. Long before government agencies existed, people relied on recommendations from friends, family, and trusted associates to make purchasing decisions. Businesses that cheated customers didn't survive.

The internet didn't create reputation-based commerce—it supercharged it. eBay, Amazon Marketplace, and countless other platforms simply made what always worked work faster and better. Millions of transactions happen daily based on star ratings and reviews. No regulatory agencies required.

Milton Friedman understood that reputation, not regulation, drives honest business practices. Modern technology just proved how right he was all along.

A policy tweak here, a rate adjustment there. Pull this lever, turn that nob. Policymakers and banking experts attemptin...
12/11/2025

A policy tweak here, a rate adjustment there. Pull this lever, turn that nob. Policymakers and banking experts attempting to fine-tune the economy like it's a machine, an engine we can squeeze a few more horsepower out of or a computer processor we can overclock.

But can we?

Economies aren't machines that behave only in the ways we tell them to. And even if they were, there's no way anyone could ever know what they need to do it properly. Even so, people try, and the inevitable result is what happened in 2008. Check out the latest in our capitalism blog series to understand why. https://blog.freetochoosenetwork.org/2025/12/can-you-really-manage-an-economy-like-a-machine-lets-ask-2008/

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