The Hill News

Over the course of time, free and open markets have proven infallible in their ability to reward winning products and technologies, and quickly leave behind those that cannot compete. Free and open markets have a perfect record. They are never wrong.

As brutal as this Darwinist reality may be, it represents an implicit compact with which innovators are comfortable. It’s a fair system. It rewards successful risk takers and punishes those with inferior products. And it speeds the rate at which the best solutions gain share of market and share of mind.

In a truly competitive marketplace, no one is precluded from bringing forward new solutions. As such, free and open markets allow fantastic successes for a few and spectacular failures for many. But in return, a real marketplace fuels groundbreaking new technologies, provides consumers with a choice and fairer prices, and winnows the losers more quickly, thereby clearing space in the market for anothe! r wave of innovation and American ingenuity.

Unfortunately, this distinctly American vision does not seem to be the aspiration of the current energy policy dialogue. Instead of creating a marketplace in which innovation can emerge, we engage in a perpetual debate about which fuel is best that only perpetuates the far worse outcome of remaining dependent on foreign oil.

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