(Homeschool student Matthew Tanoue delivered this speech at GRIH's annual Milton Friedman Birthday Luncheon recently.)

He once wrote, “If you put the Federal Government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there will be a shortage of sand.” A brilliant economist, Milton Friedman will forever be remembered as one of the greatest of 20th century American thinkers and a staunch public advocate for limited government and its profound benefits for society. Today marks what would have been his 96th birthday!

For this reason, I am honored to stand here today to share a little about Milton Friedman, who he was, and what he stood for; and about how the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is working to pass along conservative ideas and principles like his to the next generation of Americans, and to high school students like myself.

You see, earlier this year, I became much more educated in conservative values when the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii sponsored my attendance at a Young America’s Foundation' conference in California. Hosted at the 'Reagan Ranch Center' in Santa Barbara, I joined 70 like-minded high school students from across the country as we were treated to a unique experience. For 48 hours, we were immersed in the best of modern conservative thought.

Speaker after speaker, led by President Reagan’s son Michael Reagan, challenged us to understand and embrace the conservative values that have upheld our freedom as Americans: the foundational importance of a limited government, support for free trade, the priority of maintaining a strong military, and the promotion of family values. It was an experience of which Milton Friedman would have been proud as I both grew in my understanding of key current issues as well as in my conviction to speak out and better defend my views in the public arena.

For this extraordinary opportunity which I received, I want to thank my debate coach and member of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, Mrs. Lora Burbage, for nominating me and Mr. Dick Rowland, founder of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii and all its members for their support.

Milton Friedman was born on July 31st of 1912. His was a life filled with countless numbers of achievements and honors, among which was the Nobel Prize for Economic Science. He is known for developing and promoting public policies that support family values. Not only was his influence widespread during his very active public life, but his legacy continues to impact the thinking of people and policies of our generation.

Friedman wrote extensively on public policy and the relationship between individual freedoms and the role of government. Friedman argued that the best way to ensure our freedom was to minimize government’s role in the free market. He understood how our freedoms are jeopardized each time the government gets too involved in the economy.

Besides advocating free trade, Milton Friedman also stood against any governmental interference with the rights of the family. He proposed improving the public education system by adopting free market principles. In particular, Friedman supported the voucher system for public schools, so parents would be free from any government restrictions to place their children in the school of their choice. That way, schools would compete to attract parents and students. With the incentive that competition introduces, each school would continually focus on improving the quality of the service it provides in order to draw in customers.

This morning, as we gather on the occasion of his 96th birthday, my hope is that Milton Friedman’s life and legacy will inspire us all to better understand what we believe, why we believe it, and to be able, like Friedman, to speak out effectively in the public square to promote liberty and justice for the benefit of all.

So Happy Birthday, Milton Friedman! And thank you all for giving me this opportunity to share my thoughts with you.

-GIR-

Matthew Tanoue is a homeschool student from Oahu, Hawaii.