WAPO: Howard Dean on U.S. innovation

By Emi Kolawole

“This young generation is really fascinating, they’re always thinking about ways to push the envelope in unpredictable ways for people my age,” said former Vermont governor and one-time Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean.

We caught up with Dean, the founder of the left-leaning, grassroots political action committee Democracy for America, on Dec. 8 during a gathering of the Yale World Fellows in Washington, D.C.

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“I think the speed of innovation is getting faster not slower, at least in tech,” said Dean, going on to refer to the growth of solar and wind power in the United States. “It’s still a tiny percentage of our power, but it’s the real deal.”

“I think there’s plenty of innovation still going on. ... The entrepreneurial spirit in America is very much alive especially among young people,” said Dean. “I know a ton of kids who got a couple of jobs, lost them in succession, then started their own Internet companies. And most of them failed. And they make a little money for a while, they learn a lot, and then they turn around and do something else. That’s a very important process. The failure of this country is in the political class, the financial class and the media,” said Dean, “but there’s still enormous dynamism in America, and I absolutely believe that dynamism is going to overcome everything else.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/howard-dean-on-us-innovation/2011/12/11/gIQAg3imuO_blog.html?wprss=innovations

Howard Dean knows this country is People-Powered.