Friedman believes that, at the moment, the country is on the path set out by Oswald Spengler in The Decline of the West. He argues it doesn't have to be; that man is in control of its destiny if it wants to be. Saying the decline is always the enlargement of government over people's lives, Friedman believes America was on the way to recovery in the early 80s, but that promise has not come to fruition. He says Sacramento is spending too much and President Bush has reversed all the planks of Reagan's platform. Among many cases cited, he argues the Americans with Disabilities Act and Clear Air acts were misnamed bills that enormously increased government regulation. He similarly believes California voters were deceived by a proposition concerning education spending. Ultimately, he believes the root cause is that America has developed a system where the government is not beholden to the people. He argues the public does not favor big government and proceeds to list several examples of things the government does that individuals would never do. He advocates changing the structure of government to solve these problems.

Friedman's biography includes: Professor of economics, University of Chicago, 1946-77; recipient, Nobel Prize in economics, 1976; senior research fellow, Hoover Institution, 1977-2006.