Grayson: Who says government can't innovate?

The New York Times carried a story earlier this month, Energy Idea for Mars Yields a Clue for Powering Data Centers, that accidentally challenges a common private-sector saw that government can’t innovate. Not only can it, we would be lost without it.
There are several lessons in the story, each of which deserves individual treatment. The first is about government and innovation, broad claims one way or the other being both wrong and purposeless.
The Times story is about how Dr. K.R.