The Golden Age of the American Entrepreneur

 

The entrepreneur has always been a culture hero to America. They are an American specialty. In Europe, traditionally, you were born into your role. In America, a bright kid from nowhere, and without education, could always rise to the top as an entrepreneur. 

It was entrepreneurs who brought us the computer revolution; nerdy kids from nowhere working in their garages. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Bill Hewlett, David Packard, and the lot. Continuing an entrepreneurial tradition that goes back to Edison, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford. 

This is what has put America on top of the world. But we now seem to have come to a kind of golden age: with Trump, we have an entrepreneur in the White House, I believe for the first time. And he seems to be working miracles. In the economic space, we have Elon Musk, again seeming to be working miracles. This may be when America drops the training wheels and sets an entirely new pace.  Just when some might think the American Empire is over.

Entrepreneurs are often hated, as Trump is hated, because they get rich. But they deserve our undying admiration and gratitude. They did not inherit that money or take it from the government—they earned it by improving life for everyone. And entrepreneurs rarely live large: they keep reinvesting the money in some new project, again improving the human condition. As the late KC Irving said, “I like to see wheels turning.” And nobody else has to pay for it, if they do not want the product—which, if they want it, will be cheaper than before, if it was previously even available. 

An entrepreneur sees a problem, and comes up with a solution. They see a need, and they come up with a way to meet it. We see Trump and Musk doing this systematically. They are creative artists. Andy Warhol, for one, understood this. “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”

It is no surprise that both Trump and Musk are highly proficient in other art forms as well: they are both brilliant rhetoricians. As I imagine any good entrepreneur needs to be..

If only we could get such men into political power in Canada.