Jim Manzi is the founder and chairman of Applied Predictive Technologies, and one of the originators of cloud computing. He is also a well-known libertarian/conservative thinker, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and a contributing editor to the National Review. Between his tech background and his politics, he’s about the last person you’d expect to praise the historic role government has played in the critical business of innovation — or to call for that role to be stepped up in the here and now.
But that’s exactly what Manzi has done in a new and important essay in the spring issue of National Affairs — an essay that is getting widespread attention. Titled “The New American System,” Manzi’s essential point is that American innovation — the key to our prosperity — has always relied, to some extent, on government support. In the early days of the republic, he writes, Alexander Hamilton proposed government help for the developing manufacturing industries — “the high-tech sector of its day.” Hamilton’s basic insight, he adds, was “that the enormous economic value that innovative industries could offer the nation merited public efforts to enable their success.”
Read more about how government nurtures innovation here.
