George Westinghouse

George Westinghouse

Westinghouse was an inventor who realized that trains needed an air brakes system to prevent accidents. Most of the train accidents occured because train operators needed to apply the brake by hand. Westinghouse created an air brake system that was safer and easier to use. For his resourcefulness and innovation, he was rewarded and obtained renown. 

Westinghouse would keep innovating by creating an electrical brake system that told train operators when to brake. Westinghouse was an impressive inventor and creator in the 1800s. Due to Westinghouse's innovations, lives and cargo were saved. 

Westinghouse would keep innovating and developed generators producing alternating current instead of direct current. Westinghouse was slandered by associates of Thomas Alva Edison for being innovative. While Edison was an impressive inventor it was possible that he may have been corrupted or attempted to prevent competition from occuring. 

Despite being slandered by associates of Edison, Westinghouse persevered and his electric generators producing an alternating current would be chosen over the direct current invention of Edison. Associates of Edison tried to discourage the use of Westinghouse's invention that was a better invention than Edison's by lying and slandering Westinghouse's invention. Instead of competing based on talent and hard work, Edison took the easy way out. Despite slander, Westinghouse's invention prevailed and the direct current system was not used.

The Importance of Competition

The story of Westinghouse describes the importance of competition in true capitalism. Each idea, product, or service should be tested and compared to select the best possible option. This ideal in the United States allowed the United States to prosper describing that there were multiple inventions created. Without competition, the market suffers and the quality of products and services also suffers. This is seen in monopoly "capitalism", socialism, and communism where the market stagnates and there are no innovations. Inventiveness and creativity are shunned and red tape and bureaucracy prevents innovation. 

Edison probably did not want competition after being one of the greatest inventors due to envy. Westinghouse kept being persistent and developed his generators that were better than Edison's. While Edison was impressive for the inventions he created, there is still the need to compete and allow for competition between ideas, products, and services. We have seen how lack of competition in multiple fields has led to stagnation. Bureaucracies have been responsible for most of the red tape and non-compete mentality in the past century. This has been seen in music, sports, academia, and even in entertainment. We can persevere avoiding idolators who hate competition and innovation due to envy. 

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