Professor Milton Friedman: 'On Tides of Political Thought in Modern History (1999)'

Source:Libertarianism.Org- Economics Professor Milton Friedman in 1999.

"In this 1999 video from an International Society for Individual Liberty conference in Costa Rica, economist and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman delivers a live lecture to the audience through a teleconferencing system. Friedman speaks about various "tides" of economic and political ideas throughout the modern era, beginning with the lassiez-faire influence of the Adam Smith tide in the 1700s, progressing through the Fabian tide of big government authoritarianism during the greater portion of the 20th century, and concluding with the contemporaneous Hayek tide and the resurgence of classical liberal ideas following the collapse of some of the world's largest and most restrictive authoritarian states.

Milton Friedman (1912-2006) was one of the most recognizable and influential proponents of liberty and markets in the 20th century, and leader of the Chicago School of economics. Read more about Milton Friedman's life and watch other videos featuring him at:Libertarianism.Org." 

Source:Libertarianism.Org

By 1999 big government socialism (or social democracy, if you prefer)  was already out of style in the United States. People were tired of high taxes, deficit spending and wanted more economic freedom to live their own lives. But this started in the mid and late 1970s and with Ronald Reagan in 1980, people were given more economic freedom with across the board tax cuts and regulations. 

But government didn't get smaller in 198. Under President Reagan, it just taxed a lot less, which is a big difference and which is why the debt and deficits went up the way they did in the 1980s. The cuts in regulations actually started in the late 1970s under President Carter when he deregulated the airlines and other industries and America started developing other energy industries, like wind and solar. 

Big government statism was already out of style. That is big government coming from the right, what you see from Christian-Populists in America as well.  It's just taken Democrats longer to beat big government Republicans, then it's taken Republicans to beat big government Democrats. But big government from the right and left has lost a lot of ground for the last thirty years.