Shortly after economic crisis erupted, Allan Meltzer received a
phone call from a German reporter who wanted to know if the world
was witnessing the end of capitalism.
“I told her that was the most stupid question I have been asked
in about 40 years of answering journalists’ questions,” Meltzer
told audience members gathered inside the Kennedy Center in
Washington D.C. earlier this month for the annual Bradley Prizes
ceremony. The reporter hung up before Meltzer could explain to her
that capitalism was actually spreading beyond its once narrow
enclave to other parts of the world including Latin America, Asia
and Africa.
Meltzer is a professor of political economy and public policy at
the Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business and a
visiting scholar with the American Enterprise Institute. He has
also served as a consultant to the U.S. Treasury Department, the
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the World
Bank. Meltzer is also a 2011 Bradley Prize recipient.
Each year, the awards ceremony honors individuals like Meltzer
who have made significant contributions to cause of democratic
capitalism and the ideals of the American founding. Founded in
1985, the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation supports limited,
competent government and a dynamic market place for economic,
intellectual and cultural activity.
Jeb Bush, the former Republican governor of Florida, was
recognized for advancing school choice initiatives in his home
state and for improving the quality of education. In his remarks,
Bush discussed some of the motivating factors behind his reforms
and said that it was vital for the country to raise standards.
When he was running for governor in 1998, Bush recalled meeting
a student from Seminole High School, just north of Orlando, who had
trouble passing his high school graduation test. One of the
questions asked how long baseball game was that started at 3 p.m.
and ended at 4:30. The student could not answer.
“We know for a fact that young people who can’t answer those
questions and who can’t think through a question that simple are
not going to be able to lived fulfilled lives,” Bush said. “They’ll
be able to dream big dreams, but they won’t have the capacities to
make those dreams come true.”
He continued:
“…So, the first step in our journey was to raise standards and
this has made a difference and I hope our country continues to
raise standards so we can benchmark ourselves to the rest of the
world and recognized that God has given every child the ability to
learn, and it is up to us, all of us, that care about the next
generation to organize ourselves in different ways to make sure
they can attain a world class education.”
Bush also ended “social promotion” in the third grade and
insisted that students fufill education standards before they move
up a grade. The end result was a dramatic decline in illiteracy.
Although the Florida Supreme Court ruled against Bush’s voucher
program, supporters did raise money to help sustain school choice
efforts.
Higher education also figured into the discussion.
Columnist George Will, who served as the master of ceremonies,
recalled that when Woodrow Wilson served as Princeton University’s
president he wanted the graduate school located on the main campus,
not where it is right now.
“When he was overruled, he had one of his characteristic
tantrums and left Princeton and went into politics and ruined the
20th century,” he said. “I simplify somewhat and
exaggerate a bit, but Wilson was the first president to criticize
the American founding…”
Wilson spent much of his political career criticizing the
philosophy of James Madison, a key figure from the American
founding, and a fellow Princetonian.
By contrast, Harvey Mansfield, a professor of government at
Harvard University, has long championed the ideals of the founding
period. Widely respected for the range and depth of his
scholarship, Professor Mansfield is the author of numerous books,
including “Taming the Prince,” “America’s Constitutional Soul,”
“Manliness,” and “Alexis de Tocqueville.”
Mansfield informed audience members that there are three main
ideals that hold sway at Harvard. They are 1)diversity 2) choice 3)
equality. But because the university makes every effort to avoid
adherence to any principle that does not change, these ideals
sometimes clash, Mansfield explained as he accepted the Bradley
Prize.
“To respect change, diversity must serve to overcome
stereotypes, even though stereotypes are necessary to diversity,”
he said.
To make a successful career in academia, it is often necessary
to “combine curiosity with superficiality,” Richard Epstein, a
professor of law at New York University, advised listeners. Epstein
also served on the University of Chicago Law School faculty and is
a senior fellow with the Hoover Institution. He is also a 2011
Bradley Prize recipient.
“One of the nice things about going about in a legal education
is that if you don’t have strong teachers you actually have to make
a path for yourself,” he said. “When you are trying to think
about ideas, being first is really extremely important. If you have
a mentor you are always going to be second because you will be
heavily influenced by the people who educate you and I had a
peculiar spirit of independence and that helped me in my career
early on.”
Over the past few years, the Bradley Prize Ceremony has made it
evident that the conservative movement has helped to revive the
founding ideals that President Wilson and other progressives sought
to bury in the 20th Century.
