Stifling Control

Almost every time you look into why a cool invention never went to market, it's because the government got involved and drove the inventor/manufacturer out of business.  I sincerely believe that if Apple hadn't gotten their iphones manufactured overseas, they wouldn't have made it to the shelves.  A long line of bureaucrats, who've never done a constructive thing in their lives, effectively demand a cut for themselves.  If any one of their little greasy palms don't get satisfactorily greased, they make it nearly impossible to innovate.  

They'll use whatever useful idiots they can to shut innovation down.  Law enforcement, who just enforce what laws/regulations they're told to enforce, get their marching orders from bureaucrats.  Courts take those laws and regulations and allow the invaluable time of the inventor/manufacturer to be stolen, with no compensation for that time.  Even if someone wins, they're too far behind to ever recover.

If constituents never come to the realization that government is stealing their future, innovation will cease.  History shows us that when innovation ceases, technology regresses.  This generation's great-grandchildren may not be living in brush arbors and riding donkeys, but, if they don't get a grasp on government, that may not be too far off.