Steve Jobs’ Lessons for Policymakers, Democrats and Republicans

Steve Jobs’ remarkable life and legacy of high-tech innovation has important lessons for policymakers, both Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives.

For liberals and “progressives,” of course, Jobs’ success should be a lesson in the importance of entrepreneurship and individual initiative. Simply put, Jobs was able to found a company, Apple, that transformed the way we live, work and play because he lived in a country, America, that is among the freest in the world.

Indeed, consumer-driven markets, not bureaucratic-driven planning boards, drive American success and American prosperity. And this is as true in healthcare as it is in the high-tech world of personal computers, smart phones and the digital tablet.

And so, the key to prosperity is not to “spread the wealth around,” as then-candidate Barack Obama told Joe the Plumber. Instead, the key to prosperity is to create more wealth and greater opportunity through the autonomous and self-regulated market.

But conservatives, too, can and should learn from Jobs. They should learn that clinging to old and dated policy ideas in a fast-changing world can be a recipe for economic stagnation and political failure.

Jobs, remember, returned to lead Apple in 1997 after being ousted in 1985. But when he returned, Jobs didn’t simply champion new and better personal computers. He didn’t simply push Apple to keep producing the same, albeit better, product line.

Instead, Jobs pioneered new ideas and new products, such as the iPod, the iPhone, the iTunes store, the Apple Store, and now, the iPad. He thought wisely and creatively about how to address new consumer needs in a new consumer and business marketplace.

Republicans need to much the same thing in the political and policy marketplace if they are to survive and flourish in the 21st Century. Replaying our greatest policy hits from the 1980s and ‘90s won’t cut it.

It’s not that conservative ideas and conservative principles are inadequate; they are not. These ideas and principles, however, must be applied in fresh and innovative ways to the challenges and problems that we face today.

And, on that score, I regret to say, we conservatives have fallen short. Our policy cupboard is bare. We speak in too broad and too sweeping philosophical terms; and we pay too little heed to the formulation of sound public policy.

How, for instance, would the Republicans reform healthcare and insure the uninsured? We don’t really know. Oh, a few policy wonks in Washington, D.C. have given the matter some thought, but not many GOP pols. And, until that changes -- until Republicans take public policy seriously -- the Grand Old Party will never become a true governing majority party.

Steve Jobs didn’t simply set out to build a computer company; he challenged himself and his colleagues to produce transformative products and services that would change the world.

By the same token, the Republican Party shouldn’t simply set out to defeat President Obama in 2012; it should challenge itself to articulating a winning reform agenda that will make government better and more responsive, and Americans freer and more prosperous. Yes we can -- and we must.

John Guardiano blogs at strong>www.ResoluteCon.Com<, and you can follow him on Twitter: strong>@JohnRGuardiano<.