Freedom requires individuals to be free to use their own resources in their own way, modern society requires cooperation among a large number of people. The question is, how can you have cooperation without coercion? If you have a central direction you inevitably have coercion. The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. 

Milton Friedman, PBS, October 1, 2000 ¹

When shopping at your local grocery store, it is easy to take for granted the many steps it took for the bananas to make their way from Guatemala to your cart. Given the land, people, technology, and transportation involved, it is a marvel that a shopper can purchase a pound of bananas in the United States for less than 75 cents.² Through cooperation and voluntary exchange, a system of free enterprise with strong accountable governance empowers people and delivers innumerable benefits every day. 

The belief in free, open societies is at its core a belief in people to solve the myriad of challenges that exist in the world today. Whether it is delivering more reliable electricity to homes, providing more access to food and health care, or addressing the world’s most complex environmental challenges, harnessing the power of human ingenuity will result in higher levels of economic prosperity and environmental progress. Commitments to individual freedom and economic liberty are instrumental in making the world a cleaner, healthier place to live. 

1.  Commanding Heights, “An interview with Milton Friedman,” PBS, October 1, 2000, https://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/press_site/people/pdf/friedman_intv.pdf[↩]
2. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, “Fresh and Processed Fruits,” September 20, 2023, https://data.ers.usda.gov/reports.aspx?ID=17850#P8d99a273a17d423db2456cad301a5f95_3_63iT0R0R0x1 [↩]