The essay is actually a Talking Points memo from Bill O'Reilly.  I heard him state all these things on his show, but can't recall if it was last night or the night before.

The argument here is very similar to an argument proposed by the late Ayn Rand.  She wanted to argue that it was because Americans are free to be rewarded for our efforts on an individual basis that we were able to gain access to the secrets of the atom and create the bombs that ended WWII.  (That's it in a nutshell anyway.)  She claimed that Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia could not have produced such an astonishing feat as harnessing the atom on their own, because the underlying philosophies of their systems of government prevented workers and intellectuals from achieving high potential.  She believed (radically) in capitalism's inherent meritocracy.

It is an interesting line of thinking, but one that I believe history refutes.  For the O'Reilly memo, I'll point no further than the recent Olympic event in basketball.  And as for Rand's claim, if I'm not mistaken, it has been rather soundly demonstrated that both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were not in fact far from developing nuclear capability at the close of the second world war.

I feel the need to point out that I despise totalitarian ideology and love freedom.  But I think I know a poor argument when I see one.

Herring405