IP: re: a comment re Microsoft "profoundly dangerous to the rule oflaw" - Boston Globe

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2000 07:02:08 -0500
>From: Steve Cohen <stevecoh@mcs.com>
>To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
>
>Dave -
>
>I realize you probably don't want to get into this on your list, but
>Geez!
>
>1. Whether Bill Gates is a true Libertarian or not, the actual
>Libertarian Party has embraced his cause fervently.  And so have other
>libertarian organizations such as the Cato Institute.
>
>2. In spite of the supposed libertarian view of the primacy of the
>rule of law, many libertarians I've encountered have no problem at all
>rationalizing away the legitimacy of antitrust law, so again all
>prosecution of Microsoft is deemed illegitimate.  (Just ask your
>friend Declan McCullagh about this - he and I have tangled about this
>in the past.)
>
>3.  While I'll concede that some "libertarian principles" went into
>the founding of this country, even Tom Paine would have had trouble
>with some of these Libertarians who are running amok today, not to
>mention what Washington, Jefferson, et. al. would have thought of
>them.  Freedom of Speech, of Religion, etc. are not the exclusive
>patrimony of the libertarians, though they like to claim it.