Re: [Fwd: Grassroots Geeks on Stipends? or Money for Nothing?]

[Declan McCullagh <declan@pathfinder.com>]

Again Mitch gets it wrong. Perhaps it's too much of that collectivist
cultism? If libertarians are the hippies of the right, Mitch & gang must be
the crackheads of the left.

Contrary to what he says, gvt activity is not defacto coercive, at least
not in any objectionable way. Gvt should exist to protect us and our rights
(think police) including our right to enter into agreement with others
(think courts). I know a few libertarians who take Rand seriously, but the
vast majority don't.

If Gates were a dedicated libertarian, he wouldn't be supporting the nasty
criminal copyright law he championed. Cato was one of the few groups to
speak out against that. Everything I see makes me think he's a liberal who
talks free-market when it suits him and his company's bottom line.

-Declan



At 13:20 -0400 4/22/98, Mitch Stone wrote:
>In reply to Declan McCullagh's message sent 4/21/98 9:53 PM:
>
>>Personally I think the Objectivists are wacky (they are not libertarians,
>>BTW), but I and libertarians I know would never make that claim about
>>business never resorting to force. I can think of some pizza parlors run
>>by the Mob that do just that. Certainly initiating violence is wrong -- if
>>done by the Mob or by the Pinkertons -- if nothing else.
>
>Rand was fond of calling Libertarians "the hippies of the right," which
>as far as I know, was the only genuinely humorous remark she made in her
>entire life. Not that this prevents the libs from adoring her (little
>plastic statuettes of St. Ayn the Objectivist on their dashboards, etc.).
>
>Both of these cults (er, philosophical movements) share the same bizarre
>definitions of "force." While they might both agree that actual =physical
>violence= is a no-no, they're really ambivalent (or haven't really
>thought much about) all other forms of personal or corporate coercion and
>intimidation -- except for government activity, which is de facto
>coercion.
>
>They perform this philosophical sleight of hand mainly by ignoring all
>concepts of the commons. But that's another topic.
>
>BTW, from everything I've heard from and about him, Bill Gates is a
>dedicated libertarian.
>
>   Mitch Stone
>   Editor, Boycott Microsoft
>   http://www.vcnet.com/bms
> +---
>   I think a lot. --- Bill Gates