Innovation

Innovation is not a football in the battle between libertarian and socialist. Innovation is the field. Let’s give libertarians some intellectual credit, and assume they know that what socialists refer to as innovation comes from government and universities. Libertarians have as many words for profit as escimoes have for snow, and to a libertarian, innovation is a form of profit. They may quibble that innovation is a source of profit, but just as snow is a source of ice, it is all profit to a libertarian. When libertarians argue for less government, they are arguing for less of what socialists call innovation. Both libertarians and socialists have a point. Government gave us fracking as well as internet. Big government is imperialist, because building up alternatives before tearing down traditions accumulates advantage. Let the ideologues argue over more or less; the future is what kind. Until government stops being timid and greedy, and starts destroying as well as feeding corporations, we will stay on the current track to climate breakdown.