David D. Friedman

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{{cquote|I like to say that the best form of [[government]] is competitive [[dictatorship]]&nbsp; the way we run restaurants and hotels. The customer has no vote on what's on the menu, an absolute vote on what restaurant he chooses to eat at.<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/Libertarian/comments/2tzpg5/comment/co3tyk7/ Conversation with David Friedman]</ref>}}
[[File:Davidfriedmanatcato.jpg|right|thumb|165px|Friedman, verbalizing his fantasies at the [[Cato Institute]], 2008-11-06.]]
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'''David Director Friedman'''<ref group=note>"Director" is his mother's maiden name, but given his [[politics]], he could just as easily have adopted it as a political statement, after the tradition of the whacko assassin, {{wpl|Byron Looper|Byron (Low Tax) Looper|.}}</ref> (a.k.a., "Duke Cariadoc of the Bow") {{lived|1945}} is an [[anarcho-capitalist]] writer, the author of a seminal book on the subject, ''The Machinery of Freedom'', and a professor emeritus of law at Santa Clara University.<ref>[https://law.scu.edu/faculty/profile/friedman-david/ David D. Friedman's profile on the Santa Clara University website]</ref> Friedman is the son of [[Milton Friedman]] of [[Chicago School]] economic fame, and the father of [[Libertarian paradise#The Seasteading Institute|Seasteading Institute]] co-founder {{wpl|Patri Friedman||.}}

==Credentials==
{{main|Credentialism}}
Despite his being a law professor and having written a seminal book on libertarian economics, he has never taken a class on either law or economics.<ref>[https://marketurbanism.com/2016/02/14/economist-david-friedman-says-india-must-go-taller-to-make-homes-affordable/ Economist David Friedman Says India Must Go Taller To Make Homes Affordable] by Shanu Athiparambath (February 14, 2016) ''Market Urbanism''.</ref> Contrariwise, despite having a doctorate in theoretical physics, he has done nothing with his degree since completing it.

Friedman, after being given a knighthood eventually became a duke… in the {{wpl|Society for Creative Anachronism}} where he has been larping at running a [[feudal]] estate since the 1960s.<ref>[https://www.thejewishnews.com/archives/positively-medieval/article_6fc9e4ed-87b1-5c07-84f3-a58d0c51db60.html Positively Medieval] (Sep 29, 2012; Updated Jun 13, 2023) ''The Detroit Jewish News''.</ref><ref>[http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/cariadoc/miscellany.html Cariadoc's Miscellany] by David Friedman and Elizabeth Cook (1988-1992) ''Shadow Island Games''.</ref> Like [[channelling]], SCA is the kind of thing where everyone fantasizes about becoming a noble or someone important, but no one fantasizes about being [[:Fun:Monty Python#Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)|Dennis the Peasant]].<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKIyVnoZDdQ Monty Python And The Holy Grail Dennis The Repressed Peasant] ''YouTube''.</ref> His participation in SCA does raise some interesting questions though, such as is he a real economist or lawyer, or was it just a larp?

==Politics==
{{cquote|There could be competition among different brands of law, just as there is competition among different brands of cars.<ref group=note>There is: they're called "[[nation|countries]]" and you can find over 200 unique ones.</ref>|||''The Machinery of Freedom'', chapter 29}}

Friedman is much more [[radical]] than many anarcho-capitalists, such as [[Murray Rothbard]]. Both he and the Rothbardians believe that ''all'' functions of government should be [[privatized]] and replaced by competing companies, such as [[Mercenary|private security firms]], toll road operators, and arbitration courts.  

However, while the Rothbardians believe that all the competing companies should enforce a single body of law that has been reached by consensus, somewhat like how things were done in the [[medieval]] [[Iceland]]ic Commonwealth or in pre-[[Oliver Cromwell|Cromwellian]] [[Ireland]], Friedman believes that the legislative process should also be privatized, and there would be no rules at all except ''[[cuius regio, eius religio]]'', or its equivalent with [[secular]] law.  How (or whether) [[democracy]] then sets in is another debate altogether.

Friedman also differs from Rothbardians and other [[Natural law|natural-law]] [[Anarchism|anarchists]] and libertarians in advancing purely [[Utilitarianism|utilitarian]] arguments for the model he advocates, without reference to ethics except in the context of the operation of law.

==See also==
*[[Utopia]]

==External links==
*[http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Libertarian/Machinery_of_Freedom/MofF_Contents.html ''The Machinery of What I Call Freedom'']

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

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