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Charles Koch: Unleashing Innovation is Essential for Helping Americans Improve Their Lives

Koch says America is turning its back on principles of a free and open society

Charles Koch
Charles Koch / AP
July 22, 2016

Unleashing innovation and uniting around a vision for a free and open society is essential for helping Americans improve their lives, Charles Koch writes in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal.

Koch says that a free society is what brought about life-changing innovation, and in turn is what has transformed society and made Americans’ lives better than it was 80 years ago.

"Innovations in countless fields have transformed society and radically improved individual well-being, especially for the least fortunate," Koch says. "What made these dramatic improvements possible was America’s uniquely free and open society, which has brought the country to the cusp of explosion of life-changing innovation."

Koch warns that there are signs America is becoming less open and free, citing attacks on free speech, concerns that global trade impoverishes rather than enriches, and forcing innovators to first seek government permission.

"This trajectory takes the U.S. further away from the brighter future that is otherwise within reach," Koch says. "Unleashing innovation, no matter what form it takes, is the essential component of truly helping people improve their lives."

"If the country can unite around a vision for a tolerant, free and open society, it can achieve even greater advances, and a brighter future for everyone, in the years ahead," he says.