I usually ignore the Daily’s statist propaganda, but the recent Opinion Board piece on Bill Gates demands a response because it goes to the heart of the misguided and destructive philosophy that is causing our national decay and has been the rallying cry for every oppressive regime in human history. That philosophy is the notion of “public good.”

The Daily wants Bill Gates to surrender to the Justice Department. They believe that his doing so will help maintain competition on “a level playing field.”

Furthermore, the Daily believes that there is something wrong with Gate’s accumulation of wealth, that he should be “satisfied” with what he already has.

Let’s examine how Bill Gates has come to be as wealthy as he is. He has directed a company that produces a vast array of products purchased by other individuals and businesses acting under their own free will. Bill Gates does not extort wealth from people by force.

He gives them an opportunity to purchase products.

Gates does not bomb his competitors. He creates products that, in the judgment of consumers, are better than his competitors’ products.

Does he use shrewd and predatory means to secure his place in the market? Yes. Can he physically force other companies to sell out to him? No.

The same methods that Bill Gates has used to secure his wealth are open to all his potential competitors. That is competition on “a level playing field.”

Netscape, on the other hand, is the group guilty of unfair business practices.

Netscape felt it was unable to compete on the free market, so it called on the government to attack its main competitor, Microsoft. Despite the fact that the government’s only legitimate role is protection of individual freedom, this tactic may work.

It is the government, acting as public welfare protector, that allows inept companies to survive by using physical force against their competitors.

If Microsoft loses this case, it is in danger of being broken up by the threat of physical force — property confiscation and jail time.

We don’t allow individuals to get what they want through this kind of extortion. Why should we allow the government and inept businesses to do so?

How have we come to live in a nation that punishes achievement and rewards ineptitude? Human jealously, disguised as public interest.

Why does anyone at the Daily (the existence of which is supported by wealth extorted from Iowa’s taxpayers), or anyone else, care that Bill Gates is so rich? His money doesn’t allow him the right to physically harm anyone (unless, in today’s America, he uses it to obtain public office).

Too many people are pissed off by the fact that someone else is more capable than they are of creating something of value.

A great number of these pissed off people can be found teaching college courses, heading labor unions and writing newspaper editorials. The jealous turn to governmental power to obtain their vengeance.

It happened in Germany. It happened in the former Soviet Union.

It is happening here and now in the United States, in a slower and more insidious manner, and has been for the last 90 years.

This nation was founded on the basic notion of human freedom from the initiation of force; the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is the best way.

History has proven that freedom is the best way. It allows people to make the world a better place.

Freedom is under attack by the Daily and everyone else who claims that you are incapable of living in mutual freedom, that you need protection from legitimate business, rather than criminals and foreign invaders.

If no one member of society can be trusted to live free and take care of himself, who shall we select from that society to take care of us all? Bill Clinton? Congress? The Pope? How about Mao, Stalin, or Hitler?

Bill Gates doesn’t bear watching. Those who demand that you give up your freedom for your own good demand watching.

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Casey James Brown

Junior

Mechanical engineering