Cattle die, kindred die,
Every man is mortal:
But the good name never dies
Of one who has done well.
Friedman was a man of ideas, passionate about public policy (even if he questioned the public aspect of it) and questioning of embedded conventions (conscription, tax, the size of government, methods of analysing of the economy etc). Whether you agree with all his arguments (and I don't), the above qualifies him for hero status. Rarely do academics make such a singular impact on public policy, and across so many state boundaries. His life work preaching rigour in analysis and challenging accepted wisedom should be an inspiration for dynamism in policy creation, no matter of what variety: just because it is so, doesn't mean it shouldn't be forced to prove it is so. He has done well.
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