Re: Microsoft Increased Lobbying in '98

[stan johnson <sjohnson@gwi.net>]

** Reply to note from "Eric M. Bennett" <ericb@pobox.com> Tue, 29    
Dec 1998 22:35:10 -0500  
>>It is, after all,  
>>constitutional to petition the government for a redress of    
>>grievances.  
  
>I wasn't aware that the concept of petitioning involved the exchange    
>of money.  
  
I've seen no evidence that any lobbying per se included payment of    
money. Not as anything identifiable as a bribe...  
  
I am, as you may be, greatly offended and outraged by the purchase    
of special treatment by those that can afford to purchase it, and are    
willing to subvert democracy and justice by doing so. But the    
purchasing, so far as I know, can be and generally is, done in legal    
ways--campaign contributions etc. That is an area which desperately    
needs reform of the most fundamental sort. Meanwhile, many    
corporations and individuals use this legal (but unethical, IMO) way to    
gain favorable treatment.   
  
The money gains attention to the plea. Those without money to give    
are unlikely to be heard. Clearly ethically corrupt, both the purchaser    
and the seller.  
  
I don't agree that if M$'s competitors use such means to gain the    
government's attention, that this excuses M$ doing the same thing.    
Any such activities, whether a response or an original act, are equally    
unethical and reprehensible, IMO. And all too common, I'm sure. The    
'everybody does it' argument is without force, and I certainly hope it    
stays that way.  
  
However, the ethical bankruptcy (or not) of parties on both sides of    
the issue has no bearing on the guilt or innocence of M$ in the matter    
of violating the law. Law and ethics are disjunct. 


-- 
Stan Johnson    TeamOS/2
sjohnson@gwi.net