I always found it interesting how Thomas Edison established the Edison Electric Light Company to own and license his patents in the electric light field backed by financiers, including J.P. Morgan and the Vanderbilt family. This led to the invention of the lightbulb, followed by the founding of The Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York on December 17, 1880. This led to the development of the large central power plant with its generators (called dynamos); voltage regulating devices; copper wires connecting the plant to other buildings; the wiring, switches, and fixtures in the interiors of those buildings - all without government funding and intervention.
This same success WITHOUT GOVERNMENT can also be found through the life of Henry Ford, an engineer with the Edison Illuminating Company. A Chief Engineer in 1893, he soon acquired enough of his OWN wealth towards his personal experiments on gasoline engines. Backed by the capital of Detroit lumber baron William H. Murphy, Ford resigned from the Edison Company and founded the Detroit Automobile Company on August 5, 1899.
Ford & Malcomson was reincorporated as the Ford Motor Company on June 16, 1903, with $28,000 capital. The original investors included Ford and Malcomson, the Dodge brothers, Malcomson's uncle John S. Gray, Malcolmson's secretary James Couzens, and two of Malcomson's lawyers, John W. Anderson and Horace Rackham
Later in our nations history inventors continued to emerge without government help. Igor Sikorsky, the inventor of the Helicopter. In 1923, Sikorsky formed the Sikorsky Manufacturing Company in Roosevelt, New York. He was helped by several former Russian military officers. Among Sikorsky's chief supporters was composer Sergei Rachmaninoff, who introduced himself by writing a check for US$5,000 (approximately $61,000 in 2007 dollars). When his first prototype failed Sikorsky persuaded his reluctant backers to invest another $2,500. The Sikorsky Manufacturing Company moved to Stratford, Connecticut in 1929. It became a part of United Aircraft and Transport (now United Technologies Corporation) in July of that year. The company manufactured flying boats, such as the S-42 "Clipper", used by Pan Am for transatlantic flights.
These are but a few examples right off the top, without the need to dig deeper into other great inventors and inventions.
Government dependency? I think not. Many of the dreams these innovators shared were acquired by other financial means of backing ... interested investors willing to see the eager ideas of a few become the reality of tomorrow. It's amazing what has been accomplished in this country, ALL without the need of Government.