I am a member of the University of San Diego Law School Chapter of the Federalist Society, and I was its 1997-1998 president. I have written the enclosed article, which I believe may be of interest to you and your members. I am a retired naval officer, a third year law student at the University of San Diego, California, and a life-long student of Ayn Rand and Objectivism. Feel free to publish this article in your chapter's newsletter or school newspaper, and to pass it on to other related sites and publications. I would appreciate feedback if it is published.
Mike Giorgino, (619) 437-8217; mgiorgino@aol.com; 1634 Pomona Ave., Coronado, CA 92118-2932
BILL GATES SHRUGGED (with apologies to Ayn Rand)
By Michael Giorgino Microsoft's general counsel waited impatiently. He was not accustomed to being kept waiting by the 'boy genius' inside. He glanced at the clock over the silent, older woman who guarded the entrance to his office. He could not understand why her quiet, purposeful efficiency annoyed him so much at this moment.
"Who is he in there with?" he snapped.
"The gentleman did not give his name, but Mr. Gates knew he was coming," she calmly replied.
"This is one helluva time to be chatting with old friends."
"Oh, they've never met. They introduced themselves when he went in."
"He must be fishing for something. Ever since Bill created that charitable trust, money grubbers have been coming out of the woodwork."
"No," she replied, "He's not one of those . . . it's strange."
"What?"
"He was the most self-confident, self-assured man I have ever seen. He looked like he was here to collect a debt. He had the strangest eyes -- bright blue and penetrating. He had the serene look of a saint -- or an executioner."
The lawyer breathed an expletive. "If he's going to execute someone, I wish he'd get it over with. I still need to discuss the judge's findings of fact with him, and I've been cooling my heels out here for three bloody hours."
Suddenly, the door opened. Gates walked out, took his legal strategist's hand, and said with a distant smile, "Go home. Call a special meeting of the shareholders for Thursday at Noon."
"Just a damn minute, we have to discuss this case. There are some hopeful signs in the ruling. Fairness dictates that the government should cut us a decent break, given your commitment to the overriding social purposes . . ."
Gates held up his hand, and the lawyer stopped. He saw a look of uncompromising determination on the Microsoft chairman's face that he had seen previously only when scientific or technical matters were at stake -- never in a social context.
"What did he say to you?"
Gates just smiled, this time brightly.
On Thursday, all of Redmond was talking about the case, and how the company would respond to the antitrust ruling. 2,500 shareholders and the entire board and management were assembled. The international press hovered in the rear, barred by strict orders of the chairman from the front tier, which was reserved for the company's most loyal workers and longest-term stockholders.
Bill Gates walked in precisely at Noon, and strode purposefully to the podium. It was suddenly apparent to everyone just how young this industrial giant was. They sensed a magnificent innocence, an untroubled purity in his manner -- a pride that is serene, not aggressive. More than anything else, his face was utterly devoid of guilt.
"Good afternoon. I have called you here today to tell you that I am resigning as Chairman of Microsoft, Inc., effective immediately."
A gasp was heard in the audience and shouts of "No, no!" The general counsel rose from his seat to approach the microphone, but Gates continued. "I do not want this action to be misunderstood. I will state it publicly, for the record. I work for nothing but my own profit, which I make by selling a product that they need to those who are willing and able to buy it. I developed Windows and Microsoft's other products as an expression of my own creative ability. I did not produce them for the benefit of society, nor at their expense. Consumers of these products, the free men and women who stood in line to order Windows '98 while I was being grilled on Capitol Hill, dealt with me as equals -- by mutual consent for mutual advantage.
"I am rich. I made my first billion dollars in my 30's. I am proud of every penny I own, because I have earned it. I have made my money through the voluntary consent of every man I dealt within my life -- the first man who hired me when I was starting out, those who joined me in my first commercial enterprise, those who freely work for me now, and those who buy my products.
"All my life I accepted the moral code that it is good to live for the sake of others. In church, schools, and from our government, I heard that the goal of one's life is self-sacrifice. 'Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.' I didn't question that code. I worked hard and offered my best effort to others, expecting the same in return. When these government troubles began, my wife and I were advised to show the public that we had their best interests in mind. I thought I had done that with our products, unleashing unlimited human potential in information systems and mass communications.
However, with all the wealth we had amassed, I thought it also would be beneficial to support worthy charities. Who would not like to have the economic power to cure disease and provide educational opportunity to the deserving poor? I have been told that our charitable donations have been the largest in history. I was shocked by the public reaction. The silence hurt. The sneering and 'Its about time' attitude from so many quarters raised the first question mark in my mind about >the morality of a code that preaches self-sacrifice.
"I want to assure our long-term workers that their pension plans are sound, and all contractual obligations will be honored. Those who have worked with us for less time will be given generous severance bonuses, based upon seniority. To our loyal shareholders, my associates and I will be announcing a tender offer later today, to minimize the impact of this action on your investments. However, I cannot and will not continue to work under a system of arbitrary and unjust laws.
"Microsoft will close its doors. Its patents and copyrights will be guarded against use. We will leave the market open for the 'underdogs' and the government to fight over what remains. The government says I have hurt consumers by giving them the best product at the lowest price? I am removing the source of that 'harm,'-- my mind -- from their reach.
"The heart of the altruistic code is the idea that we do not have a right to live for our own sakes. I am here to tell you today that I do, and that I will not deal with men on any other basis. Do you hear me, Washington? I refuse to accept as guilt the fact of my own existence and the fact that I must work in order to support it. I refuse to accept as guilt that I am a businessman; that I make money; that I create wealth. I refuse to accept as guilt the fact that I am better able to accomplish these things than my neighbors, and that they are willing to pay me accordingly. I refuse to apologize for my success -- my ability -- or my money.
"I see now that the public good was never the purpose of my work. It was always to offer my kind of man my best effort in return for his. It is not a particular state policy I challenge today; it is their moral premise. If it is now the belief of my fellow men, who call themselves the federal government, that they demand sacrificial victims, then I say: The public be damned! I will have no part of it. Suddenly, his wife was at his side. They looked into each others eyes, and knew it was time to leave.
The general counsel blocked his exit. "What did that sonofabitch tell you?" he snarled.
Gates laughed in recognition. "He asked me if I saw Atlas, the giant holding the world on his shoulders, blood running down his chest, knees buckling, struggling to hold up the world with the last of his strength, what would I tell him to do? I asked, 'What could he do . . . what would you tell him.?' He replied, simply, 'To shrug.' "
That evening the plane landed on a remote airstrip in Colorado. A small band of tall figures waited to greet Gates and his family. At its head was the intense, confident stranger that had visited his office. His blue eyes gleamed with pride as he claimed his greatest conquest. He stood beneath a 12 foot golden monument -- the sign of the dollar. John Galt said simply, "Welcome home."
I woke with a start. Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" was on my nightstand where I left it. Across my chest was my bound copy her "Objectivist Newsletter," with the following words from 1962 highlighted: "Antitrust is 'the penalizing of ability for being ability, the penalizing of success for being success, and the sacrifice of productive genius to the demands of envious mediocrity.' "
I realized that it was merely a dream -- Bill Gates had not quit. He continues to adhere to the code of self-sacrifice that has condemned him and every other businessman in America to second class status. He has given 17 billion dollars to such causes as finding a cure for AIDS and educating minority children, yet there have been no Gay Pride parades in his defense; professional civil rights activists have not organized prayer vigils in Redmond for their benefactor.
The cover of a national magazine portrays Bill Gates as a silly, prideful balloon, which little hands are eager to prick. No, altruism is a rapacious creditor -- it demands everything one owns, and still is not satisfied. The businessman's original sin is ability. Productive genius involves rising above one's fellows, making them feel envious, lazy, and small. No amount of charity and goodwill can erase that -- indeed, such gestures make it worse. Every dollar contributed by Bill Gates which he earned through his productive genius is a silent accusation against those unable or unwilling to do so.
No man may rise too high in the Age of Envy that is our modern welfare state. The time has come for American government to recognize the difference between political and economic power. The former is force, coercion, and the power of the gun. The latter is goods and services, consent, and freedom. To the extent that America's economy is still free, Americans are still free. Man's unfettered mind is the fountainhead of human progress. The American system of free enterprise has unleashed man's potential, allowing unprecedented material progress over the past 200 years. Few people ever make a speech, write a book, or launch a religious heresy. However, every one of us must earn a living and buy our daily bread.
Economic freedom is our most precious liberty because it is so interwoven with the fabric of our lives. It is the liberty most easily threatened through taxes and regulation. A leash is nothing but a rope with a noose at both ends. Place the collar around Bill Gates' neck and we feel it tighten around our own throats. Involuntary servitude, even for some vague "public good," is slavery!
Antitrust laws are de facto retroactive, and should be repealed. It is impossible for a businessman to know in advance what will be considered to be "restraint of trade," or "intent to monopolize." Its criminal penalties should certainly be unconstitutional as ex post facto laws. Even with judicial proceedings, its civil penalties violate the heart of substantive due process, as no one can predict in advance what a district court judge will consider "unreasonable" restraint, or even what the "relevant market" is.
As Rand pointed out, "free competition enforced by law is a grotesque contradiction in terms." At bottom, the latest antitrust "findings of fact" against Microsoft are more concerned with a socialistic view of competitive markets (helping the less competitive 'underdogs,') than with consumer protection. Microsoft cannot force a customer to do anything -- all it can do is offer consumers an opportunity to buy its products. That is the nature of economic power -- value for value.
The government's saber-rattling against Microsoft threatens us all. It is the end of the road of the morality of self-sacrifice -- the ritual dismemberment of sacrificial victims. Individual rights, including property rights, are basic conditions of man's nature, required for his rational happiness on Earth. The naked display of arbitrary police power against Microsoft proclaims more eloquently than words that we no longer have the right to pursue happiness in America. It is now a mere privilege, subject to judicial balancing against someone else's vision of the 'common good.'
If the 'public good' demands making victims of the best and ablest among us, then I, like my imaginary Bill Gates, say "The public be damned!"
------
To which I add: "Amen." RAY THOMA$
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