The True History of Libertarianism in America: A Phony Ideology to Promote a Corporate Agenda

The Foundation for Economic Education was the best-funded conservative lobbying outfit ever known up to that time, sponsored by a Who’s Who of US industry in 1946 .

In his early days , before millions were spent on burnishing his reputation, Milton Friedman worked as a business lobby shill, a propagandist who would say whatever he was paid to say.

That's the story we need to revisit to get to the bottom of the modern American libertarian "movement".

Julian Zelizer : Milton Friedman is a founding father of libertarianism.

Zelizer says the Foundation for Economic Education was founded by the US Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Real Estate Boards in 1946 .

He says Milton Friedman and George Stigler arranged an under-the-table deal with a Washington lobbying executive to pump out covert propaganda for the national real estate lobby in exchange for a hefty payout.

In 1946 , Herbert Nelson of the Real Estate lobby contacted libertarian founder Leonard Read of the FEE with an order for a PR pamphlet.

The National Association of Real Estate Boards was so pleased with Milton Friedman’s made-to-order propaganda that they ordered up 500,000 pamphlets.

There's no idealism here. If we're going to escape the corporate oligarchy that is running this country--their ideas can't possibility be the alternative solution.