But just because cultural authorities no longer dictate architectural styles or plan towns based on cultural or transcendent values, that doesn’t mean that democracy and the “market are just passive recorders of fixed human wants and desires. There is plenty of room for creative action on the part of government leaders and entrepreneurs.

The writings of solid conservatives like George Gilder have shown that a creative entrepreneur motivated by a noble vision can tap into deeply-held human needs that people themselves aren’t aware of. The most famous example, of course, is Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, two (mostly) crunchy guys who co-founded Apple computers because they literally wanted to change the world. The famous quote attributed to Ken Olsen, Chairman of Digital Equipment Corporation, that “there is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home," while misleading because it was taken out of context, does capture the fact that at that time the potential demand for personal computers wasn’t showing up in market research studies to the degree anticipated by Jobs and Wozniak and other visionaries, who had the imagination to probe deeply into reality because they were on a mission, not just passive responders to “market demand.”

Libertarian conservatives need to get beyond the silly idea that to “see a deeper reality” is just a disguise for liberal elitist paternalism. The fact is, we don’t always know what we want, and we need visionaries to shine a light on our deepest desires. This is not Marxist “false consciousness,” but a basic Christian truth. Conservatives need to encourage creative thinking and acting, especially in regard to our physical environment, not slap it down just because there might be liberals around who also want to join in.