Milton Friedman would be celebrating his 100th birthday today, had he not died in 2006. Were the Nobel-winning economist here today, he would likely have a few words for Thomas E. Ricks, who wrote a New York Times Op-Ed earlier this month titled “Let’s Draft Our Kids.”

Many people don’t know this about Friedman, but he was one of the leaders of the movement to end the draft in the 1970s. He likely would have answered Ricks by arguing that its reinstatement is as terrible an idea today as it was then.

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