THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

Some years ago, when the Internet was much smaller, I was in a political newsgroup shortly before an election. As we argued along, a message came in from, I believe, [email protected], though I am not sure that was exactly right. What was clear from the address was that it came from Gates himself.

Gate's message was three words long: "A loyal liberal."

Bill Gates is a limousine liberal, just as his family is. They are affluent northwestern people. Despite his own genius, it was his mother's connections that got Gates in with the big-money people. He came a long way on his own brains and drive. But he did not, as the conservative debater on CNN put it, go from being a college dropout operating out of a garage to billionaire status.

I don't like liberals. Their entire program is always aimed at taking what is mine or attacking my people -- white people, Southerners, Americans in general, and even, in their environmentalist extremism, being flatly anti-human.

Respectable conservatives always talk about how nice liberals are. They say leftists are just a bit mistaken. Not me.

I feel that liberalism is evil. It is also unnecessary. We could have a complete, and far better, national dialogue if this kind of traitorous self-hatred were not part of it.

Gates is rich, so conservatives love him dearly.

Conservative reaction to anyone with money is an instant grovel, just as their reaction to anyone with a uniform is an instant grovel.

In my early twenties, I was somewhat that way myself. Then I discovered that we and our heritage are just some more of the things businessmen love to sell out. Anyone who doubts me should take a look at the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, which was fighting to get rid of our Confederate flag long before the NAACP weighed in.

So when the Justice Department and the Federal judiciary decided to break Microsoft up for being a monopoly, conservatives went straight to the Wailing Wall, tore their clothes, and screamed as loud as they would if somebody wanted a dollar less spent on the Pentagon.

I remember reading William Buckley's columns back when Ferdinand Marcos was a billionaire dictator and invited Buckley to visit. One worshipful column after another poured from Buckley's typewriter. It was stomach-turning worship, even for a respectable conservative falling at the feet of the wealthy.

Respectable conservatives worship Gates. I look at the situation a different way.

Gates is a loyal liberal, and two liberal icons, the Clinton Justice Department and the Federal Judiciary, have united to split his company up.

I was a professional economist and professor in economics, so I realize how hideously complicated the question of monopoly can be, even when it does not involve high tech. What I enjoy about this situation has nothing to do with the merits of the case.

To me, Bill Gates is a liberal getting mugged, and I love it. Liberals who love criminals are asking for me and mine to get mugged, and they consider racial and national treason to be the highest virtue. When they get mugged, they get what they asked for all of us. When their beloved muggers rob and beat them, I see it is as simple justice. They got what they asked that all of us should get.

Gates is a liberal who got mugged by those he and his fellow limousine liberals have wished on all of us. As far as I'm concerned, they deserve each other.