This week some members of my family plus some friends and I are staying in Duck, North Carolina, the Outer Banks. Just a short jaunt to the south is a little burg called Kitty Hawk. Because all of us in our entourage are Buckeyes with an appreciation for state history, we are aware of what transpired in Kitty Hawk on December 17th, 1903. Two bachelor brothers executed a controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight.
Obviously the government grant their received for application research was a superb investment of taxpayer’s dollars….oh, wait, there was no government research grant. If there were, it might have gone to an entity with better political connections than the Dayton brothers. The grant process then would have been extended and renewed until a new subsidized industry was created. But the intrepid bicycle builders from the Midwest did not apply nor receive taxpayer money for their “hands on” research project.
Although the Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, have been credited with developing heavier-than-air flight, their patent was issued for a mechanical system that would allow the operator to manipulate the surfaces of the airplane for maximum aerodynamic control…in other words, the flaps. The basic elements of the system continue to be used today, and, of course, the government heavily subsidizes it as an industry that is vital for national interests. Not really, not at all. That year, 1903, predates the current version of the Federal Income Tax and the Federal Reserve System by a decade. Henry Ford was preparing to elevate motoring from a novelty to a staple of American life. Government generally operated within its constitutionally-designed parameters, and resourceful people developed innovative ideas that would change the lives of every person on the planet. Ford did not receive a grant or a bailout…then or now. Times and attitudes have changed, but not for the better.
When oil was discovered in Titusville in the Nineteenth Century, there were no EPA regulations to stop the drilling. There was no grant from the Department of Energy for exploration of alternatives for coal, wind and hydro power. Willing people with ideas, gumption and commitment tested, built and discovered products that have elevated our quality of life. No government interference or taxpayer money was required to bring their visions to fruition. No subsidies were necessary to keep the fledgling industries alive. In the beginning there were no tax breaks to allow the captains of industry to thrive.
Now we fly, we drive and we consume massive amounts of energy, and the tentacles of government intrusion are wrapped around each of those crucial industries. Some development continues but either directed or funded by the government. Government involvement in those three industries has thwarted their growth, undermined their efficiency and prodded them to become mere shadows of their pasts. When government wins, we all lose. In today’s environment, the Wright brothers would not be allowed access to those sandy dunes at Kitty Hawk. Amelia Earhart, Lucky Lindy, Chuck Yeager and other great pioneers of aviation would never have been needed or noted. Too often, the helping hand of government is a fist.
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