You didn't build that, someone else did.

Pelosi tells Apple, 'you didn't build' the iPhone. The government did

There aren’t’ too many devices that you can look at and instantly ‘get’ that they led to near-instantaneous changes in the way the world functions and behaves. Radios and TVs certainly did, as did the affordable automobile. We can toss in the microwave oven, the X-ray camera, and the personal computer as well. Most recently, the honor would have to go to the cell phone and, in particular, the iPhone. Apple’s baby is widely regarded as the most ubiquitous, and most forward-thinking, of the now borderline-essential cellular handsets. For better or worse, it’s transformed the way we do business, play games, take pictures, and interact with our friends and families.

But it might surprise you to know that, according to remarks given by Nancy Pelosi to the now-infamous DNC Platform Committee, Steve Jobs “didn’t build that.” The government did. Nancy is adamant that federal research invented the iPhone. Steve Jobs just “put it together.” “The list goes on and on. If you want to learn more, look at the Association for the Advancement of Science in America, and they have the full list. They say Steve Jobs did a good idea designing it and putting it together. Federal research invented it.”

In other words, as Obama famously remarked, Apple “didn’t build that, someone else did.” There was no real vision on the part of Apple’s technical wizards. They didn’t really innovate. They just threw together some pre-existing parts and sealed them up in a pretty case. That’s the message from the forum that, just yesterday, was yapping about how no one has the right to own a gun. The mind that thinks this way is truly scary. Basically, they’re arguing that anything that’s ever been built, sold, and bought - if it references or integrates even the tiniest sliver of federal-funded research - is a product of the all-powerful state. Never mind the fact that the federal government couldn’t - in a million years - come up with a design as elegant or functional as that of the iPhone. Ignore the fact that what tech the government does create tends to be the chunkiest sort of overpriced and instantly-archaic junk. Forget about the painful reality that the feds have proven to be utterly incapable of generating profits. They “invented” that phone of yours, and they’re sick of you giving credit to some greedy private corporation.

Robert Laurie -- Bio and Archives Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com Be sure to “like” Robert Laurie over on Facebook and follow him on Twitter. You’ll be glad you did.

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