Mankind's Benefactor: The Individual

Mankind’s Benefactor: The Individual

(Long Live the Individual)

History reveals the importance of the individual.
Here is a list of unapproved individuals who have led us into prosperity and liberty:
Wilbur and Orville Wright (a couple of know-nothing bicycle mechanics from Dayton)
Albert Einstein (a lowly Swiss patent clerk)
Henry Ford (another bicycle mechanic)
Thomas Edison (a partially deaf, home-schooled eccentric)
Moses (a Hebrew slave)
Abraham Lincoln (initially, a barefoot, poverty-stricken, woodsman, living in the North American wilderness. He was a home-schooled, autodidact.)

Jesus of Nazareth (probably shunned as being of illegitimate birth, probably illiterate)

John Adams (unvetted American lawyer; "Who is this man?" demanded George III)

James Watt (mostly home-schooled, apprenticed to an instrument maker)

Benito Juarez (born of pure Zapotec parents, did not speak Spanish in his formative years, and was considered low-caste by Mexican elites of his time. Juarez thought Mexico would prosper under capitalism, but was constantly opposed by the power politicians.)

Robert Goddard (the real father of space flight ----not NASA ---- son of a bookkeeper, salesman, and machine-shop owner of modest means, Goddard was the lone inventor of liquid-propelled rockets. WhenWerner von Braun was captured, and asked where the Germans had acquired their know-how for building V2 rockets, von Braun looked pained and answered: "From Robert Goddard, of course.")

Ronald Reagan (subject of constant belittling and dismissiveness, even by Republicans; "an actor," they sniff, with their snoots high in the air. He came from a disadvantaged family (by virtue of his father’s alcoholism), and struggled to better his lot. He put himself through college, and worked for many years as an obscure radio announcer.

Frederick Douglass (subjugated because of his race, he was forbidden from realizing his potential by the elites of his time. He took it upon himself to learn reading and writing, thus enabling his escape from bondage.)

On the other hand, history gives us some rascally collectives.