MS libertarians

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@columbia.edu>]

  Charles Mueller:
  >
  >It is republican democracy that the Libertarians object to. It accords
  political
  >equality to all regardless of wealth or schooling, not to mention worthless
  >titles brought over form Europe by formerly rich or pseudo-noble Russian and
  >Hapsburg burgers. Probably the most insufferable nobility are the
  one-generation
  >variety.
  >
  
  About two years ago I had some contact with somebody gathering information
  on libertarianism and Microsoft for inclusion in a piece in the Nation
  magazine, which never was published to my knowledge. It turns out that the
  Libertarian Party has more members per capita at MS than any other large
  American corporation.
  
  In a sense this encapsulates the deep irony that MS represents. While Gates
  and his minions purport to represent entrepreneurialism at its best, the
  truth is that they have done everything they can to defeat true
  competition. This, of course, is characteristic of 20th century
  libertarianism philosophy as a whole. It is ahistorical. It posits an ideal
  capitalist who has no countepart in history. The rise of the capitalist
  class is intimately associated with government intervention on its behalf.
  
  All that Gates has a gift for is unscrupulous behavior. I recall that a
  biography was written some time ago about the founder of Digital Research,
  who died much too young. Some people speculate that his death was related
  to collapsing health associated with business failure. Who knows. The main
  point is that this man was much more of a visionary than Gates, but had no
  stomach for the sort of evil behavior that it takes to grow a corporation.
  (God, I hate that piece of jargon. People talk about "growing" a
  corporation like it was a sunflower.)
  
  Louis Proyect