Politics & Power Quote by Milton Friedman

Friedman’s line works because it flips the expected villain. In the popular script, the consumer is the little guy and the government is the necessary referee. Friedman keeps the setup, then yanks the rug: the referee is also a player, and the player has a monopoly on force. The wit is in the inversion, but the bite is in the implied power imbalance. Corporations can cheat you; the state can fine you, license you, tax you, restrict what you can buy, and do it all with the aura of legitimacy. “Protect” becomes the suspicious word here - a soft verb that can smuggle in hard controls.

The subtext is classic Friedman: regulation isn’t a neutral shield, it’s an arena where organized interests and bureaucracies win. Consumer-protection rules can end up protecting incumbents from competition (through compliance costs, licensing barriers, or “safety” standards that conveniently match existing products). The consumer pays twice: once in higher prices and less choice, again in reduced autonomy. His phrasing also reframes citizenship as market agency; the consumer isn’t just someone who buys, but someone whose freedom is expressed through choice.

Context matters. Friedman’s career peaks in the mid-to-late 20th century, when confidence in technocratic governance and New Deal-style regulation was high, and when “public interest” often served as the moral cover for sprawling administrative power. The urgency he claims is rhetorical, but not random: it’s a warning about mission creep. When government defines what counts as your protection, it’s also defining what counts as your risk - and quietly, what counts as your consent.