Re: Conservatives calling for DOJ action

["Norm" <normanmo@clark.net>]

On Wed, 22 Apr 1998 10:16:14 -0400 (EDT), Declan McCullagh wrote:

>So what if Bork and Dole say their views are consistent? If you take them
>at face value, you're more naive than I thought.
>
>Conservatives and libertarians in step on antitrust? Look at the Progress
>and Freedom Foundation and conservative Sen. Hatch taking pains to go
>after Microsoft. Hardly libertarian of them, hmm?
>
>-Declan


     I said Bork *claims* his views are consistent, and I know Dole is
a hired gun (and have since found that Bork was hired by Netscape). 
Please, *read* what I wrote before deciding my position is "naive".

     Again, if you've been paying attention to the state of anti-trust
in the last decade you've noticed that in fact the libertarians and
conservatives *have* been in step the *vast* majority of the time.  I'm
sure you'll agree that the libertarians believe there should be no such
thing as anti-trust, and except for a couple of rare exceptions the
conservatives (current Congress, Regan and Bush administrations) have
given them just that.  I never said the two held absolutely identical
views when it came to anti-trust enforcement, just that up until
recently it's been difficult to tell the two apart without a program. 
This is why I'm so flabbergasted when I here some radio show bill 'Rick
Rule' (a paid M$ hack) as the 'anti-trust enforcer of the Regan
administration'.  Although it's true he worked in the Regan DOJ, IMO
the term 'Regan administration anti-trust enforcement' is an oxymoron. 


     Sure, there are plenty of ideological differences between
conservatives and libertarians.  What counts though is the outcome, and
while conservatives have been in power the libertarians have had very
little to complain about in the area of anti-trust enforcement.  Hell,
up until recently ideology has been the only difference, the results
have been pretty much the same.


>
>On Wed, 22 Apr 1998, Norm wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 21 Apr 1998 14:17:45 -0400 (EDT), Declan McCullagh wrote:
>> 
>> >Cato ain't a conservative thinktank; it's libertarian. Conservatives and
>> >libertarians disagree on many issues.
>> 
>>      True, but this is an area in which they're usually right in step.
>> 
>> 
>> >I spoke to Robert Levy, an attorney and founder of a software company who's
>> >a Cato fellow and debated Ralph & Jamie yesterday. Levy pointed out that
>> >Bork's position seems to be in conflict with his previous one. And Dole's
>> >flip-flop is even more obvious. I helped out with this story that went up
>> >yesterday on our TIME Daily site:
>> 
>>      That's not what Bork says, he says his view has been consistent
>> (not that I've read anything from him on this issue in the past).  Dole
>> however is another matter, IMO he's more of a 'hired gun' than anything
>> else...kinda like our side's answer to Rick Rule ;-).
>


 ...Cheers,

 ...Norm

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