Reply #63: A sampling of John Mackey quotes -

[roxiejules]

from Winning the Battle for Freedom and Prosperity, text of speech Mackey gave in 2004 and published in Liberty magazine 2006.

http://www.libertyunbound.com/sites/files/printarchive/Liberty_Magazine_June_2006.pdf (page 17)

Because the Left provided an idealistic vision of the way the world could be. However, the reality of the Left's vision proved to be terribly flawed. Its socialist economic system not only didn't work very well, but in its communist manifestation it justified monstrous governments directly responsible for the murders of over 100 million people in the 20th century. Despite the horrible track record of leftist ideology, millions of young Americans continue to migrate to an intellectually bankrupt Left because the Left still seems to be idealistic, and idealism is magnetic to the young. Idealism will always be magnetic to the intelligent and sensitive young people of the world.

I stumbled into reading Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand - I read all of them. I said to myself, "Wow, this all makes sense. This is how the world really works. This is incredible."

I believe, however, that all four of these issues are far less critical for improving our society than creating educational choice, privatizing Social Security, deregulating health care,and enacting meaningful tort reform.

What is the alternative to socialism in education? The free-market alternative is competition, innovation, and choice. The monopoly of the government over education needs to end. The domination of our children's education by the teachers' unions needs to stop.

We own our own bodies, don't we? This is no minor thing, because the Left, by supporting socialized medicine, demonstrates a belief that common citizens are too stupid to take responsibility for our own health and therefore need the"experts" to step in and control things for our own good.

- John Mackey, CEO Whole Foods