tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675444709777940325.post199831228116040577..comments2023-07-26T04:57:49.656-07:00Comments on A Hal of a Blog (By Hal Lillywhite): Different MindsetsHal Lillywhitehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532281493474571590noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1675444709777940325.post-89497961603312657362010-12-22T17:22:18.575-08:002010-12-22T17:22:18.575-08:00"Europeans have a tradition of class structur..."Europeans have a tradition of class structure with the aristocracy not stooping to manual labor or to such mundane things as engineering or invention."<br /><br />On the other hand, we look at Volta's 'piles' (batteries), Leyden jars, Wimshurst machines, Leonardo's models, all the way back to the Romans' arches.<br /><br />I think the real reason Americans achieved is something I read recently in a couple of places (my books are not to hand, and I can't remember precisely). It was the principle, started in Victorian England, and carried on here, that a man should profit from his intellectual labor. In the Old Days, you invented something, it got picked up by your patron (think of the Brandenburg Concertos - still not called Bach's Concertos). No sooner did that come around than out of the woodwork came the Victorian engineers, like Isembard K. Brunel, and a host of others, and over here Franklin (whose 305th birthday comes up pretty soon), Whitney, Edison, ... - all of whom profited from their work, and used those profits to build industries.<br /><br />I certainly agree with your last paragraph. Obama seems determined to have us follow Europe down the Path of Good Intentions.<br /><br />I'm still waiting for a chance to read Hannan's book. At least there is one small voice of sanity in that crazed land.ZZMikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16913899667726940233noreply@blogger.com