As we savor our last moments with Prez Obama, watching him expand some minds in Silicon Valley was one for the books.
Don’t get us wrong, Obama loves innovators and big thinkers – Silicon Valley will likely be his new home after he leaves the Oval Office. But those who claim the government is irrevocably wrecked and that the answer can only be solved through tech may be missing a few big points.
“Part of government’s job…is dealing with problems that nobody else wants to deal with.”
President Obama said that the government can never operate like Silicon Valley, cuz “democracy is messy” and sometimes people have to deal with the messy stuff for the whole thing to thrive. Support and advocacy for veterans and the homeless are two of a bunch of issues that won’t be solved by the free market alone.
In 2012, he said, “When we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country … there are some things we do better together.”
The lesson? Innovation is great and one of the things that makes the future exciting (and unpredictable). But it’s not the be-all-end-all of a great country. A great country takes many, many things into account and makes sure to give extra attention to the less fortunate. Even if it doesn’t hit equilibrium in the market, it hits Doing Right in the Ethics department.
So let’s make this work.
Read the transcript of his speech.
