Today Barack Obama threw the American Spirit of Capitalism and Competition under the bus as he scoffed at John McCain’s proposal of a $300 million dollar prize for the development of a next generation car battery. Obama’s ridiculous mocking of the idea goes far beyond his typical rhetoric of criticism without solutions. Obama’s attack on the plan made clear his position that the Government, not the American people, will solve our problems. After 232 years of American Ingenuity driven by our modified capitalism, we are now considering the election of a president who clearly does not understand or appreciate the contributions of our predecessors.
In statements made today, Mr. Obama remarked, “After all those years in Washington, John McCain still doesn’t get it… I commend him for his desire to accelerate the search for a battery that can power the cars of the future. I’ve been talking about this myself for the last few years. But I don’t think that a $300 million prize is the way to go. When John F. Kennedy decided that we were going to put a man on the moon, he didn’t put a bounty out for some rocket scientist to win – he put the full resources of the United States government behind the project and called on the ingenuity and innovation of the American people, not just in the private sector but also in the public sector.”
Obama comparison to the space program certainly has patriotic undertones but in reality undermines his very own argument. John Kennedy never told the American people that the government should be committed to sending a man to the moon; he stated, “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal”. Ultimately, the space program of the 60’s was extremely dependent upon the awarding of contracts and expertise of private firms such as McDonnell-Douglas, General Electric, North American Aviation’s Rocketdyne Division, Aerospace Corporation, Martin, and dozens of others. The space program was also based upon a progression of rocket technology that began more than 20 years earlier during WWII.
McCain’s proposal for a $300 million prize, or “gimmick” as Obama calls it, is a direct challenge appealing to the spirit of American ingenuity which has led our nation into being the largest contributor to technological development and achievement in the world. Not since the fall of the Roman Empire has a single nation contributed more to the technological advancement of society than we have. During our 232 year history, it has not been large companies, and certainly not the government, that has developed life-changing technologies. It has been the individual, entrepreneurial spirit of the American citizen that has led to our greatest accomplishments.
It was private, entrepreneurial-minded citizens that developed the products that revolutionized our world. It was not the government that first realized and harnessed electricity, developed the first engine, light bulb, locomotive, airplane, car, television, phone, or computer. It was not the government or Al Gore that revolutionized the internet; it was Bill Gates, a private entrepreneur, who saw a vision for home computing. The greatest advances in medical research have come from private industry, not the government. For years, private corporations have realized that the strength of ingenuity rests in minds of private citizens. Many of the nation’s largest and most successful manufacturers offer incentives and profits to employees in order to encourage, rather than suppress, their ingenuity.
McCain’s proposal goes to the heart of the American Entrepreneurial Spirit. History has taught us that odds are the next great innovation is more likely to come from a private citizen than it is from a company contracted by the government, or a government agency itself. The next great innovation is just as likely to come from the retired scientist, engineer, or creative thinker working out of their garage, as it is to flow from a corporate or government laboratory. Senator Obama believes that innovation is driven by a Harvard education, when history teaches us otherwise.
History has taught us that the innovator who is able to develop this next great technology will sit upon the top of his own private empire and experience wealth beyond his wildest expectations. McCain’s prize is not meant to be the basis of this wealth, but rather act as the primer to encourage American ingenuity. The developer of the next-generation battery is just as likely to be driven by his legacy as he is to driven by personal wealth. Senator McCain has made a bold proposal meant to encourage private innovators to develop a solution. McCain’s proposal is not pandering, it does not make unrealistic promises, and more importantly it does not create reliance upon the government to provide a solution. The prize taps into the very entrepreneurial spirit that made us the wealthiest, most innovative and generous nation on earth.
Obama’s attack on McCain’s proposal is nothing more than the unveiling of his fundamental belief that the government, not the people, is responsible for solving our nation’s problems. Obama, once again, has unsuccessfully cherry-picked history to fit his argument and offered nothing but criticism without genuine solutions.
Obama has ran a campaign touting a platform of “trust me” politics, where he is right, his opponents are always wrong, and the government is the solution. So, today I will end this post with a few words of wisdom about the “trust me” government and energy policy:
“Never before in our history have Americans been called upon to face three grave threats to our very existence, any one of which could destroy us. We face a disintegrating economy, a weakened defense and an energy policy based on the sharing of scarcity…
“Trust me” government asks that we concentrate our hopes and dreams on one man; that we trust him to do what’s best for us. My view of government places trust not in one person or one party, but in those values that transcend persons and parties. The trust is where it belongs–in the people….
Those who preside over the worst energy shortage in our history tell us to use less, so that we will run out of oil, gasoline, and natural gas a little more slowly. Conservation is desirable, of course, for we must not waste energy. But conservation is not the sole answer to our energy needs.
America must get to work producing more energy…Large amounts of oil and natural gas lay beneath our land and off our shores, untouched because the present administration seems to believe the American people would rather see more regulation, taxes and controls than more energy.
Coal offers great potential. So does nuclear energy produced under rigorous safety standards. It could supply electricity for thousands of industries and millions of jobs and homes. It must not be thwarted by a tiny minority opposed to economic growth which often finds friendly ears in regulatory agencies for its obstructionist campaigns.
Make no mistake. We will not permit the safety of our people or our environment heritage to be jeopardized, but we are going to reaffirm that the economic prosperity of our people is a fundamental part of our environment.
Our problems are both acute and chronic, yet all we hear from those in positions of leadership are the same tired proposals for more government tinkering, more meddling and more control — all of which led us to this state in the first place…
… Tonight, let us dedicate ourselves to renewing the American compact. I ask you not simply to “Trust me,” but to trust your values–our values–and to hold me responsible for living up to them. I ask you to trust that American spirit which knows no ethnic, religious, social, political, regional, or economic boundaries; the spirit that burned with zeal in the hearts of millions of immigrants from every corner of the Earth who came here in search of freedom.”
Ronald Reagan, July 17, 1980
Read More from Jarid Brown at Politically Drunk On Power.
Reprinted under permission from author.
Once again Obama thinks that the, American people are to stupid and not capable of pulling out of this mess with out the Government. I guess were just too busy holding on to our guns and faith to invent or think for our selves. WHAT ARROGANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I most certainly agree with the thrust of your post, Jarid.. that being individuals and entrepreneurs always are more motivated, and develop superior product for a better price. Not to mention when it’s private enterprise, there is inevitable competiton, keeping prices down and improvements ever on going.
Only one slight correction… INRE your
Technically, the Internet, or the path gateways, is a US federal government creation thru ARPNET and the NSF. Created as a intra-computing network for communications, i.e. the first versions of email – a separate creation. The private individual instrumental in taking this govt foundation, and advancing this data exchange between systems using incompatible O/S was Bob Kahn. Gore’s part in this is that he supported the original federal funding for the development (ala his infamous “created the Internet” gaffe), overstating his import.
But the WWW (world wide web), which is the user friendly point/click/link browser interfaces came from a guy named Tim Berners-Lee out of Geneva. He is the father of the http protocol, which is the backbone of the Internet travel now.
Gates has his part, but it was O/S, or hardware that enables computer components to “talk” to each other, as well as software development. Without an O/S, a computer is nothing but a box of gadgets, lying inert and useless. Because of his “Ford” mass production mentality, his development brought computers within financial reach of the home user. We all know Gates is not without his troubles and scandals. Then again, had he not purchased the DOS system dirt cheap, and revamped it, would it have gone so far so fast? Hard to say.
So “the Internet” is composed of different arenas… the “gateways”, called the Internet, the browser http navigations system thru the gateways, called the WWW, and the computer hardware and software extras. All were, as you say, advanced to their current state by private and ambitious individuals. However the base foundation for all of it still came from the US feds… both funding and initial computer designs and O/S.
Part of a class I had to take was computing/Internet history… can you tell?? LOL
Mata,
You’re absolutely right, I was not trying to give Gates any credit for the creation of the internet or components leading to its success; but it was Gates vision for the MS platform that revolutionized how we use home computers and led to the internet revolution of the late 90’s. But again, you’re facts strengthen the reality that it is the private citizen, the American innovator that improves and develops technology.
I hope I didn’t sound like nitpicking, Jarid. It’s really a terrific post and commentary you have there. But I sorta had to give the feds a H/T on the whole Internet thing. Had they not created the foundation, the entrepreneurs couldn’t have carried the ball to the goal line, so to speak.
300,000,000 dollars !! woweee that is more than powerball I wonder if that will help mcCain in the polls?
America must get to work producing more energy…Large amounts of oil and natural gas lay beneath our land and off our shores, untouched because the present administration seems to believe the American people would rather see more regulation, taxes and controls than more energy.
Not the present administration but the present congress. Bush has asked that congress to pass a drilling bill but congress refuses; therefore congress is the problem.
Obama is a communist and a communist believes the state owns everthing even the thoughts and inventions of one of the masses. Naturally, he would think the government is supreme and all giving and all taking. Obama is so curiously lacking in understanding anything about the people or the history of this country it is bizarre. It’s as if he lhas lived in a dream world of his own version of utopia. Everything that come out of his mouth gives me the feeling that this guy has lived in a bubble all his life. He has shown not one iota of interest the the way this country actually works but rather in how he would like it to work. He now is projecting his perceptiion of our way of life on us and trying to make it seem real. Maybe “Dreams of My Father” is really about Dreams of Obama.
BHO is an idiot, he will be a bigger disaster than Carter.
I’m no Obama fan, but the McCain $300M idea is just stupid. I don’t want the government doing anything like that, either.
If someone invents a great new energy source, that person will make tons of money from their inventiveness. We don’t need washington deciding.
Stevend: You’re quite right. But McCain, like Barry Hussein, believes that Big Brother gives and Big Brother takes away. An award sponsored by BB makes it far more “official”. Why, the private sector might foul things up. And of course, McCain’s government reward would naturally mean that this ground breaking battery would belong to…guess who (or what)…why, the govt!! That way we could save Maxine Watters the otherwise necessary step of confiscating the thing for “the greater good”.
I do not think that McCain is going to just give $300,000, I thought hewould give it away as a tax inventive on the compay that produces this magical battery. It will take more than 8 years for this to be done most likely, so he will not be giving away anything.
I agree with the whole premise of this article though. It is the common man in the basement or in his own laboratory that invent things. Bill Gates and Steve Jobs pretty much invented the home computer industry from a garage. Xrays were found by mistake in a lab. It is people, not governments that produce things.
You were heading down the same path that I was MataH. I wonder if Obama scoffs at the contests and money rewards that DARPA initiates. The most recent can be read about here The DARPA Urban Challenge The top 3 prizes winners took home a combined $3.5 million.
Very good write up, by the way. Do you ever sleep?
My cousin developed an alternative engine system that he installed in his classic ’66 Mustang. He thinks this “contest” is long overdue. He and his friends, those who have been car nuts since grade school, have all been working on alternative ways to power engines for years and he tells me that there are lots of good ideas and workable theories that lack only funding for testing and production.
My cousin is a guy who could have attended any college in this country, but chose a different route in life after winning a major contest for high school students that the major automobile manufacturers have each year to find the best budding automotive engineers. His win gave him a job and an education in the automotive engineering field, this was supplemented with a 3 year stint in the Coast Guard and intensive training in diesel engines. He now owns his own company and is considered one of the country’s experts in diesel and is highly sought after by companies that depend on diesel technology. He lives and breathes engines. If anyone can come up with workable, affordable alternatives, I believe he and his partners can.
When he was still in high school, he complained that his Mom was such a health nut, no fried foods, that she was limiting his experiments. He gathered coffee cans and distributed them to all the neighbors and asked them to save all their used oil/grease for him, which he then used to experiment with different types of used oils that would power his engines that lined their garage. That was more than 25 years ago. He has also worked on experimental steam driven auto engines and solar as well.
McCain is barking at the moon if he thinks there will be some magical breathrough to the battery equivalent of the fabled 100-mpg carburator. Modern batteries are very well developed–I get regular updates from a friend in an internationally-known laboratory.
Your laptop has the best batteries there are, considering cost vs. performance. You already know how expensive they are and how short their lives are. Major improvement will be in the form of a fuel cell using butane or propane — fossil fuels!!!
Go nukes!