in their computers and live in make- believe online worlds, or get addicted to computer games. I’m guilty of this myself. Yes, we should be worried about
China trying to topple us from our commanding heights of global lead- ership and dominance. Some in Gen- eration Z want to take, rather than make and build. Fortunately, we have a president
today in Donald Trump who does believe fervently in American excep- tionalism and the boundless future that lies ahead as we make the 21st century the American century. He understands that America is not “systemically racist” as Joe Biden
so unpatriotically demeaned our na- tion, but instead we are the only truly successful multiracial and multicul- tural society, perhaps ever. We are truly a melting pot of hu-
man talent. One key statistic underscores the “land of opportunity.” Today in America, Asians have
the highest incomes, higher than those of whites. Hispanics mostly came from the
poverty-stricken nations of Central and South America, with little but an astounding work ethic, and now their median household income has shot up to more than $70,000 in just one or two generations. They would
be rich in their home country. Where else does that happen? Not
very often in China, Japan, Russia, or Europe. Young people are also apparently
oblivious to the reality that the $100 trillion of wealth that has been cre- ated over the last 50 years will be bequeathed to them. That’s nearly triple the size of the national debt. They are inheriting the richest,
most inventive, and most generous nation in world history on its 250th birthday. Their mission is to keep this long train of prosperity rolling and keep America No. 1. Can they do it? Of course. They are Americans. They can and will.
THEY MADE America GREAT The U.S. is a world leader thanks to their incredible inventions.
F by van charles
ounding father ben franklin’s contribu- tions to America go well beyond his role as a states- man who helped forge what became the world’s greatest constitutional republic. He was also one of the fledgling nation’s
greatest inventors who believed in American greatness and its power to lead the world. “Without continual growth and progress,
1776-1826
Eli Whitney | Cotton Gin B
y the time Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence, the bulk of his inventing days were mostly behind him, including harnessing electricity with the lightning rod, the Franklin Stove, and more. For this 50-year period, the
greatest American invention goes to Eli Whitney, who in 1793 invented the cotton gin, which separated cotton fibers from the seeds and greatly expanded the product’s availability to meet the
54 NEWSMAX | JANUARY 2026 WHITNEY
demand at home and abroad. Whitney, who lived in Massachusetts,
graduated from Yale and headed South, where he planned to be a tutor but opted to stay with Catherine Greene, widow of Revolutionary War Gen. Nathanael Greene. It was there he learned
about cotton, and the time- consuming task of not only extracting the seeds, but also the amount of labor required to produce it. Whitney’s “gin” (derived
such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning,” Franklin explained. With the nation he helped found turning
250 years old this year, here’s a look at the in- ventions, broken up into 50-year segments, of other Americans who, like Franklin, believed in American greatness and followed in his giant footsteps.
from the word engine) used a drum filled with hooks that caught the cotton fibers and dragged them through a mesh sheet too fine to let the seeds pass through. Before his invention, a man could
remove seeds from about 1 pound a day. With the cotton gin, a man could remove 50 pounds a day. Honorable mentions: James Watt, 1765,
first modern steam engine; George Stephenson, 1825, first steam locomotive.
WHITNEY/STOCK MONTAGE/STOCK MONTAGE/GETTY IMAGES / CROSS-SECTION/ANN RONAN PICTURES/PRINT COLLECTOR/GETTY IMAGES COTTON GIN/ CHARLES PHELPS CUSHING/CLASSICSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES / COLT/
PHOTOS.COM/GETTY IMAGES PLUS / REVOLVER/OXFORD SCIENCE ARCHIVE/PRINT COLLECTOR/GETTY IMAGES
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