A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

And I am stunned.

I am stunned because Milton Friedman possessed vibrant ideas. I thought that those ideas would keep their possessor immortal even as they helped society win prosperity and freedom.

I am stunned because Milton Friedman possessed a vibrant and cheerful personality. I thought that such a personality would allow him to remain with us, ever-encouraging his friends and his country to greater accomplishments.

I am stunned because the overbearing regulatory state continues to defy enlightenment and reason and needs someone with a strong and yet charming personality to demonstrate to it the error of its ways. Milton Friedman had such a personality--and the knowledge to back it up. Who else, after all, could have made a discussion concerning the creation of a pencil so interesting:

That's right. A lecture concerning a mundane topic like the creation of a pencil was made dazzling and fascinating by Milton Friedman. Imagine what he could do with questions and debate regarding matters of great import and consequence.

Milton Friedman was blessed with so much. A loving wife, Rose, who is now left to cherish his memory alone. A loving family who learned so much from his example. Professional accomplishments that awe and inspire. A legacy of freedom he has imparted to his country and the world. Several lifetimes have been lived by this one man.

And yet, he died too soon. The battle for freedom is not yet won. The regulatory state remains fixed in all of its obnoxiousness. Too many people deride capitalism instead of seeing it as the liberating and supremely equitable force that it is. The cause of liberty could have continued to use Milton Friedman's advocacy, his knowledge, his cheerful willingness to engage himself--immerse himself--in the battle of ideas.

We are bereft a friend, a teacher and a mighty ally. We shall try to carry on without him.

But it just won't be the same. Milton Friedman has left behind an overwhelming legacy. No one can take his place.

UPDATE: Who can read this and not be utterly charmed?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Remembrances come from the following people: Ben Domenech, the New York Times, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the Friedman Foundation, the Cato Institute, Will Baude, Virginia Postrel, the Foreign Policy blog, Greg Mankiw, Michael Brandon McClellan, Jane Galt, Alex Tabarrok, Tyler Cowen--who leads me to this remembrance, Natalie Solent, Ilya Somin, Rep. Jeff Flake, A Second Hand Conjecture and David Bernstein--who notes that more people need to be exposed to the genius of Milton Friedman's thought.

Whether you call yourself a classical liberal, a libertarian, a small-government conservative or a libertarian-conservative (the first and the last labels are appropriate for me), Milton Friedman made you proud of who you were and proud of the intellectual legacy of which you were a part. His loss is immensely saddening.