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McCain Suggests $300 Million Prize

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A few days ago I posted a review for former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s new book, Real Change. Somewhere in this book Speaker Gingrich talks about the need for large monetary prizes from the government which will spur an innovation revolution. It would appear that Senator John McCain read that chapter as he is proposing a $300 million prize for the first person who develops, “an automobile battery that far surpasses existing technology.” From the article:

The bounty would equate to $1 for every man, woman and child in the country, “a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency,” McCain said in remarks prepared for delivery Monday at Fresno State University in California.

McCain said such a device should deliver power at 30 percent of current costs and have “the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.”

I think everyone in America would be willing to pay $1 for such technology to be created. But why stop there? Why not make the contest aspire to even greater heights and look for a battery that can be mega-mass produced not just in America, but around the world? This type of engine could breathe life back into Detroit and make GM the number one name in automobiles once again. In fact, if every American is willing to pay $1 for McCain’s competition, then wouldn’t we all be willing to pay $3.33 so we can create a $1 billion prize? I’d be down for it.

This is the type of innovation that will put America back on top of the leading edge of science and technology. We will, however, have to rely on foreign scientists and immigrant scientists to make these discoveries, but that’s another topic for another time. Hey, maybe if we can figure out this type of automobile technology we can figure out how to make math and science interesting in our schools again!

Book Review: Real Change

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Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is probably one of the best public policy minds in the United States today. Speaker Gingrich wrote Real Change before the term “change” became the buzz word of the 2008 election and when you read his book you can’t help but be impressed with the real changes that he suggests for America.

To the brainwashed folks out there let me say no, this book is not slanted towards a conservative point of view. In fact, Speaker Gingrich spends quite some time berating the current Republicans in Congress (and the White House) as well as those from the last few years. And yes, he gives it to the Democrats pretty hard, too. And for any independent minded American out there (* raises hand *) you can’t help but know exactly what Speaker Gingrich is talking about when he dresses down both parties.

So what are some of the changes that Speaker Gingrich suggests for our future? Well let me tell you a little bit about my favorite chapter in this book. First, Speaker Gingrich suggests a massive overhaul of the education system in America. As I work with schools of choice on a daily basis, I absolutely loved reading Speaker Gingrich’s ringing endorsement for charter schools. In case you do not know, charter schools are public schools of choice that hold lotteries to determine which applicants may attend.

The innovation here is that these schools are not regulated by the local school board and can choose to teach students in their preferred manner. The students are subjected to standardized testing and their test scores are highly scrutinized by the naysayers, but time and time again charter schools meet or exceed the local district’s achievements. Charter schools (in New Jersey at least) usually have a better rate of high school seniors who go on to college than their public school counterparts. But I digress…

Newt Gingrich tells a great story about the Detroit school system and how it rejected a multi-million dollar investment because the local bureaucrats (i.e. teachers and the teachers’ union) did not want to be held to a higher standard or put to shame by charter schools. Who winds up getting hurt when these people reject such help? The students.

Speaker Gingrich suggests at many points in this book that tax-free government prizes need to be established in order to get America’s scientists thinking about the same issues that America’s people are thinking about. For example, Speaker Gingrich suggests a tax-free $1 billion (with a “b”) reward for the first person/company to design a gas-free car that can be mass produced for the public. Anyway, Speaker Gingrich talks about the need to have better space travel and for America’s needs to lead the world’s innovative breakthroughs for this century.

I highly recommend that anyone who is interested in reading about what real change can mean for America take a look at Speaker Gingrich’s book. What makes the ideas in this book so compelling is that Speaker Gingrich’s new think tank, American Solutions, backs up all of the ideas with nonpartisan poll results showing an overwhelming majority of Americans agreeing with the changes proposed. Again, this is a great read for those of us who are looking for real change that puts America on the right path.