The Wright Brothers: The Other Brothers Obama Missed in his SOTU

During the State of the Union address last night, President Obama mentioned a couple of Brothers from Oakland County:

Already, we're seeing the promise of renewable energy. Robert and Gary Allen are brothers who run a small Michigan roofing company...  Today, with the help of a government loan, that empty space is being used to manufacture solar shingles that are being sold all across the country. In Robert's words, "We reinvented ourselves."

This statement isn't totally truthful. It wasn't a 'loan', it was $500,000 in Stimulus Funds. As Reported here:

With the aid of $500,000 from federal stimulus dollars, they recollected their abilities in regards to the Luma Resources and are now successfully making solar shingles.

Another article cites this:

As a member of the Senate Energy Committee, Senator Stabenow championed the State Energy Program, which helped them retool their plant and launch an entirely new business, Luma Resources of Rochester Hills, to manufacture solar shingles.

Sadly, the Allen Brothers did not 'reinvent' themselves, the American Taxpayer did.  American innovation stems from an idea and those that pursue others to invest in their dream.  The Wrights Brothers, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, all had an idea and set out to 'reinvent' themselves.  Each did this on their own without the assistance of 'Stimulus Funds' from a broken government.  Their idea's are what we call "Innovation" and their "Innovations" are what made the United States prosperous in the last century.

We who live in free market societies believe that growth, prosperity and ultimately human fulfillment, are created from the bottom up, not the government down. Only when the human spirit is allowed to invent and create, only when individuals are given a personal stake in deciding economic policies and benefiting from their success -- only then can societies remain economically alive, dynamic, progressive, and free. Trust the people. This is the one irrefutable lesson of the entire postwar period contradicting the notion that rigid government controls are essential to economic development.

Ronald Reagan -September 29, 1981