Milton Friedman is one of the founders of modern Conservatism.
Milton Friedman also said that he was philosophically libertarian. Commenting on his book Capitalism and Freedom, Friedman said that it presented ideas that were “very radical” and “not conservative at all”.
Of Friedrich Hayek, Friedman declare himself “an enormous admirer of Hayek ... The Road to Serfdom is one of the great books of our time.” Hayek had famously written an essay titled, “Why I Am Not a Conservative”
When the Policy Review characterized the late Hayek as a “conservative”, Milton Friedman protested as follows:
“Hayek, to the best of my belief, like myself, always considered himself a “whig”—a 19th century liberal, never a conservative. ... You do him no service by regarding him as so.”
Conservatives might like much of what Friedman wrote and did, but it would seem that Friedman did not appreciate being called a conservative, and preferred to be called a liberal, albeit of the 19th century type. Obviously, there should be no place in Mr. Nobama’s Republican Party for the likes of Hayek and Friedman.