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Elon's Choice [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-25
Like many of you I’m terrified about what’s happening in our country. The American experiment in constitutional democracy is under attack from enemies within. This is entirely obvious. Everybody sees it occurring right before our eyes. Trump is aggressively seeking to topple the very checks and balances that have kept America great for nearly 250 years. He has no respect for the laws and institutions that have secured our freedoms and liberties. He cares nothing for the lives of American citizens, including those who voted for him. He only cares about one thing, himself…and the power and wealth he can acquire. In his pursuit of power and control he fancies himself a dictator, even a king. He has no respect for the Constitution, and considers himself above the law.
The result is that our government has been turned over to a horde of racists, bigots and Nazi’s who seek to create a fascist state, a dystopian hellhole that tramples individual rights and liberties and replaces them with a Stalin-era police state. If Trump gets his way Soviet-style authoritarianism may seem preferential to what we’ll end up with. Anybody who’s not terrified about what he's doing is either not paying attention or is blind, likely due to intentional ignorance. There’s simply no other reason why millions of Americans put this maniac back in office.
Everybody said he had no business being president again. Even many of his own prior cabinet members said he’d destroy everything if he was ever allowed back in power. So we knew exactly what to expect. We all knew. And yet he was still reelected. Now we have a monster in office with the power to destroy America. And he probably will. Permanently.
Talk about irony. The guy who convinced millions of voters he’d make America great is doing the exact opposite…making America the weakest and least American at any point in our history. And when he leaves office, either by election or force, we may never recover from the destruction he leaves in his wake. Millions of lives and futures will be permanently shattered, including many of those who voted for him. Hopelessness will abound, and America will no longer feel like America. When this happens the American Dream will become just that, a dream. We were all told that this “dream” was our birthright, afforded to us because of the freedoms and liberties provided in our Constitution. Yet here we are facing a dystopian future in which our rights will be doled out not by the “content of our character,” but by the “color or our skin.” A future such as this will never make America great.
In this terrifying future, there will no longer be due process, for anybody. People will disappear into a maze of private prisons and gulags, and then cease to exist. Habeas Corpus won’t protect us. The world of freedom and liberty that we’ve grown accustomed to will be no more, and we’ll all suffer for it. These are the things conservatives have long accused liberals of trying to take from them. Yet ironically this conservative rallying cry resulted in electing the most anti-freedom president ever to occupy the White House.
So yeah, I’m terrified, and you should be too. In fact, everybody should be scared to death about the damage he’s doing to our country. For in just a few short weeks he’s already brought us to the brink of a true constitutional crisis. But he didn’t do it alone. Many people and forces, both in public and private, have conspired to bring about this frightening reality. Trump's cabinet is a Who’s Who of criminals, fascists and plutocrats. They are the very people most likely to destroy America in their pursuit of unlimited power as they seek to create a dystopia in their image.
Yet among this cast of evil characters the most dangerous one is Elon Musk. Between his vast wealth, unapologetic racism and strong fascist beliefs, Musk is the greatest single threat to America, the World, and the future of humanity. He has both the desire and ability to force his dystopian fantasy upon society, both in America and around the globe. No other person possesses more capacity for evil than does Musk. He’s poised to become a real-life manifestation of Dr. Evil, but not in a humorous way. Many of us grew up watching James Bond protect us from all manner of world-ending villains. Yet while Bond was a fictional hero, Musk has the capacity to become a real-life manifestation of the very evil Bond saved us from.
Unfortunately, there is no James Bond to save us this time. Maybe no one will save us from this monster. He’s unelected, unaccountable and uncontrollable. Not only does he have free reign to thrust his evil upon society during Trump’s watch, but as long as he walks the Earth there’s nothing to stop him from threatening the future of humanity after Trump. It’s why he’s actually a far greater threat.
But it didn’t need to be this way. In fact, he started off as a savior of humanity, at least that's the way he sold himself to us when he built Tesla. Because early indications were strong that his mission was to become a positive force for the future of life on Earth. It was why I became a huge Musk fan, and I made no secret of the fact that I envied Tesla owners. Oh, if I could only drive a Tesla, I thought. I can’t begin to count the times I wished I could afford one. For years I would complain how if I had done this or that differently I’d be driving a Tesla. Of course now I wouldn’t own one if if were free.
Yet my Elon bromance extended far beyond that. From a very early age I knew the world was in trouble, or would soon be. I grasped the challenges of providing for our ever expanding populations, both here and abroad. I understood the resources we’d need to keep society intact, and offer hope for a better life. And so I became a dreamer.
I dreamed that a superman (or woman) would emerge with the capacity and compassion to guide the world toward a brighter future. I hoped someone would emerge who could help humanity solve the most critical issues impacting life on Earth. In fact, I even dreamed that maybe I’d become that person. So I made my life about pursuing wealth. Although people frequently assumed it was so I could acquire material things, the actual truth is that I wanted to be that person. I wanted to be the one who shaped the future in ways that provided better lives for all humanity. Even if what I did was anonymous and history forgot me, I wanted it to be the mark I left behind. I could not imagine a finer or more worthwhile life than one devoted to helping people feel more hopeful about their futures, and to lead better lives. I still cannot. In my youthful idealism I wanted my life to reflect the poignant observation of late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes who once opined: “I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time, at peril of being judged not to have lived.”
Unfortunately two things prevented me from living this life. First, it soon became apparent to me that pursuing wealth as a goal was not only a terrible strategy, but it clearly wasn’t something I was cut out to do in the first place. And second, life happened. It snuck up on me, and before I knew it I had family responsibilities and was thrust into the same rat race with everybody else. Every day was a challenge to keep myself and my family afloat. Soon my dream slipped away and was out of grasp. I continued to hope, but hope without action is meaningless. And so I became just another spectator hoping that someone or something would come along to save us.
Then came Elon Musk. When he created Tesla and launched us on an EV future to reduce our reliance on fossil-fuels, I rejoiced. Was he destined to provide a brighter future for humanity? Was Elon going to usher in a sustainable future to benefit both America and the world? Was Musk the one?
I hoped dearly that he would be that person. Early indications seemed to confirm that my dream might be realized. For as his wealth grew to unimaginable levels, I realized that no other person in history has or had the capacity to guide the world toward a brighter future. Certainly not in the way he could. Such a contribution to humanity would be unparalleled, and would have secured him a permanent place in history that might never be eclipsed. Had he chosen this path he could have been revered worldwide. The statues, memorials and commemorations of his contributions would have lived through the ages, and centuries from now we might still be singing his praises. No other person alive or dead has had the opportunity to “share the passion and action of his time” anywhere near the extent of what Elon Musk is able to do. He held this possibility in the palm of his hand. He alone possessed the capacity to do more worldly good than any human being who had ever lived. It was why I dearly hoped that he’d rise to the occasion and become the kind of person we needed him to be, and in doing so provide hope and possibility to billions of people around the globe. Then came COVID.
In the early days of the COVID pandemic, society responded to this global threat by mandating social distancing practices. This was done for the simple, yet powerful reason that it saved lives. Potentially millions of lives. It was done not to purposefully inconvenience people or restrict our rights, but to save lives. Although it may have inconvenienced us in some ways, the burdens placed on us paled in comparison to the lives lost, and the lives saved.
But then in the spring of 2020, Elon Musk at an investor meeting said he considered it fascism that he was burdened with these social distancing requirements. Well, now, wasn’t that special! Here we saw the wealthiest person in the world whining about not being able to make more money, despite the fact that more people would die. Gee, it’s sorta like he actually doesn’t care who lives or dies as long he gets to do whatever he wants.
There’s a legal term for this level of total apathy toward one's fellow human beings. It’s called Depraved Indifference, and it describes Musk perfectly. So, when I saw this white, privileged, massively wealthy male from South Africa spouting off about fascism I knew right then and there that things were not going to end well.
Yet I had been among Musk’s biggest fans. So, I first tried to find a way to excuse him for his ill-timed diatribe. I thought maybe he was responding to investor concerns, and felt differently inside. Unfortunately I was wrong. Dead wrong. Because he soon gave his full support to trucker caravans who considered themselves egregiously inconvenienced for being required to take precautions to save people's lives, including the simple act of wearing masks.
So there was no mistake. He really doesn’t care one iota about whether people live or die. With this act he confirmed that he’s perfectly willing to engage in mass depraved indifference, knowing full well that his visibility will cause many lives to be needlessly lost. It was then that I realized that anyone who possesses such a callous disregard for people would never become a savior of humanity. I also knew things were about to get worse, a lot worse.
Soon we began hearing him criticize California for high taxes, and Democrats for, well, everything. Talk about irony. It’s interesting to note that when Musk was creating Tesla I never once heard him complain about the technology infrastructure of Silicon Valley, something that took decades and vast public investments to create. He was perfectly content to utilize California talent and resources to build his business, even though it was the liberal priorities of the state that enabled him to actually form Tesla. Yet as long as it benefited him he was happy to take every advantage available to him in California, even if it meant hiding his true intentions.
Because once Tesla started going strong all he could talk about was how California taxes were strangling him, and how the democrats had so messed up the state that he was “forced” to relocate to Texas. Yeah, right. This wasn’t about California’s failings. It was about a greedy plutocrat wanting to make even more money after he no longer needed the state. He also wanted to get away from California because it didn’t share his conservative views, even though liberals are often found doing the technology jobs Musk needs. In fact, it was precisely the state’s liberal agenda that created the business and technology environment necessary to launch Tesla. Talk about misplaced greed.
But what was really telling was where in Texas he relocated. As everybody knows, Texas is a very conservative state. Yet there is one spot, a city, that’s bright blue. It’s home to most of the state’s liberals, as well as many of the engineers and other technology resources necessary for a company like Tesla. This is of course the city of Austin.
So, where do you suppose Mr. Musk relocated Tesla? One guess. Yep, he chose Austin. Because for all his criticisms of California, what Musk did was to try to recreate the benefits of California in Texas so he’d pay fewer taxes and indulge his conservative ideology at the same time.
Then there’s his criticism of democrats in general. According to Mr. Musk democrats do everything wrong, and only he knows what’s best for society. Yet when Tesla needed a large investment to remain viable, where did he get the money from? It came from the Obama Administration, the very same democrats that apparently are the cause of all our problems. Without that investment Elon Musk would now be Elon who. Yet if Trump were president when Elon needed the money, would Tesla have been funded? Probably not. The fossil fuel interests would have told Trump to kill it, and he would have done just that. But as soon as Trump appeared to be moving toward a second win, Musk immediately went full MAGA, which is where we find ourselves now. At least Musk is a consistent hypocrite. I’ll give him that.
But make no mistake. Everything Musk has done in his life was by choice. He chose to come to America where we gave him the opportunity to create great wealth. He chose to play nice with California and the democrats as long as it served his interest. And like any effective con-man, he chose to lie about his real intentions to further his goals. Then when he no longer needed the resources that helped him acquire his wealth, he chose to abandon them in order to pursue his fascist agenda. And when Trump gave him the opportunity to destroy the very country that allowed him to become the monster he is, he chose that path as well.
Of course it didn't need to be this way. He could have chosen the path of compassion and charity. He could have chosen to use his power to provide hope and opportunity to humanity. He could have chosen greatness. But he didn’t. He chose instead to be a greedy, selfish plutocrat who cares nothing for the billions of people trying to survive in an uncertain world. He chose to destroy the most basic foundations of America, and in doing so spread fear and uncertainty both here and abroad.
Yes, Elon Musk was given a choice, a choice to shape the world for good or evil. It’s a choice that’s only been available to a very select few people throughout history. Maybe only one in a billion, if even that. Yet rather than becoming a force for great good in the world, Elon chose instead to use his vast wealth to enable a tyrant hellbent on destroying the foundations of America and the Constitution that kept us free. This was Elon’s Choice, and we’re all paying the price for it.
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