Karl Marx did not abolish child labor or free the women from working in the coal mines in England—the steam engine and modern machinery did that.
—Ronald Reagan. Speech to the First Conservative Political Action Conference, January 25, 1974.
The government should not hinder technological advancement, nor should it play the fool attempting to promote technologies it believes are winners. No concessions, no handouts, no tax benefits, no distortion of market forces—these are the fundamental axioms of a wise government. Government intervention in technology, as elsewhere, has always been poison to human innovation and prosperity, regardless of how well-meaning the motives.
