Free or Equal?
Freedom and equality, which one should a nation focus more on? The answer to this question seems to be diving the world as much as anything else.Although equality before law and equality of opportunities are not incompatible with freedom (in fact equality before law is one of the prerequisites for freedom), equality of outcome is incompatible with freedom. As Lawrence Reed elaborates in his speech "7 Principles of Sound Public Policy", free people are not equal and equal people are not free. So, what happens when a nation focuses on either of them. In 1980s, Nobel Laureate economist Milton Friedman had produced the series Free to Choose, insisting freedom matters more than anything else. Now, after 30 years Swedish economist and internationally acclaimed author (one of my favourite authors) Johan Norberg has produced a documentary, Free or Equal trying to answer this very question. In the documentary, Johan Norberg travels in Friedman's footsteps to see what has actually happened in the places where Friedman's ideas had taken hold in the 1980s.
You can watch the documentary below:
So what do you think? Feel free to share your opinions in the comments!
