“I do not often find myself in the habit of thanking Elon Musk, but I must confess that he has done an exceptional job of demonstrating a point that a few of us have been making for years, and that is the reality that we live in an oligarchic society in which billionaires dominate not only our politics and the information we consume from media, but our government and economic lives as well. That has never been clearer than it is today.
But given the news and attention Mr. Musk has been getting over the last few weeks as he illegally and unconstitutionally dismantles government agencies, I think it is an appropriate time to ask the question that the media and most politicians don’t seem to be asking, what do he and other multi-billionaires really want? What is their end game? In my opinion, when Musk and those around them are aggressively striving for is not novel, it is not complicated, and it is not new.
It is what ruling classes throughout history have always wanted and have always believed is theirs by right more power, more control, and more wealth. And they don’t want ordinary people, t hat’s you, and democracy getting in their way. They want it all. Elon Musk and his fellow oligarchs believe government and laws are simply an impediment and impediment to their interests and what they are entitled to. Entitled to.
In pre-revolutionary America, before the 1770s, the ruling class governed through a doctrine called the Divine Rights of Kings, the belief that the King of England was an agent of God and he was not to be questioned by mere mortals. In modern times, we no longer have the divine right of kings. What we now have is an ideology being pushed by the oligarchs, which says that as very, very wealthy people, often self-made, often as the masters of revolutionary new technology, it is their absolute right to rule.
In other words, these modern day oligarchs are our kings, and it is not just power. It’s incredible wealth that they have.”
“Today, Mr. Musk is worth 402 billion. Zuckerberg is worth 252 billion. Bezos is worth 249 billion with combined wealth of over $900 billion. These three people, three people, own more wealth than the bottom half of American society.”
“Not surprisingly, since Trump was elected, their wealth has soared. Musk has become $138 billion richer. Zuckerberg has become 49 billion richer, and Bezos has become 28 billion richer all since election day. Meanwhile, while the very rich become much richer, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paychecks. 85 million are uninsured or underinsured.
25% of seniors are trying to survive on $15,000 a year or less. 800,000 are homeless, and we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. Do you think for one second that the oligarchs give a damn about working people? Trust me, they don’t. Musk’s decision to dismember U-S-A-I-D means that tens of thousands of the poorest people around the world will go hungry or die of preventable diseases. But it’s not just abroad. Here, in the United States, they will soon be going after the healthcare, nutrition, housing, and educational programs that protect the most vulnerable people in our country, all so that Congress can provide huge tax breaks for them and their fellow billionaires.
As modern day kings who believe they have the absolute right to rule, they will sacrifice without hesitation, the wellbeing of working people to protect their interests. Further, they will use the enormous media operations they own to deflect attention away from the impact of their policies while they entertain us to death. Mr. Musk owns Twitter. Mr. Zuckerberg owns Meta, which includes Facebook and Instagram, and Mr. Bezos owns the Washington Post and Twitch.
Further, they and their fellow oligarchs will continue to spend huge amounts of money to buy politicians in both major political parties. Bottom line, the oligarchs with their enormous resources are waging a war against the working class of this country. And it is a war that they are intent on winning. Now, I’m not going to kid you, the problems this country faces right now are extremely serious.
The economy is rigged. Our campaign finance system is corrupt, and we are struggling to control climate change an existential threat to our planet among many, many other important issues. But this is what I do know. The worst fear that the ruling class in this country has is that Americans, black, white, Latino, urban, and rural, gay and straight, young and old, that all of us will come together to demand a government that represents all of the people in our country, not just the wealthy few.
The oligarch nightmare is that we will not allow ourselves to be divided up by race, religion, sexual orientation, or country of origin, and will together have the courage to take them on. Will their struggle be easy? Absolutely not. And one of the reasons for that is that the ruling class of this country will constantly remind you that they have all the power. They control the government, they own the media.
“You want to take us on? Good luck”, they will say there is nothing you can do about it. But our job right now in these very difficult times is to not forget the great struggles and sacrifices that millions of people have waged over the several centuries to create a more democratic, just and humane society. Think about it. Over the last number of centuries, how many people have stood up and fought, and when they were doing that, you know what that contemporary said?
They said, “Hey, you wanna overthrow the King of England to create a new nation and self-rule? Forget about it. Impossible.” – “You want to establish universal suffrage, right? Of all people to vote. Impossible, can’t happen.” – “You want to end slavery and segregation? Impossible.” – “You want to grant workers the right to form unions and end child labor? Can’t be done, impossible.” – “You wanna give women control over their own bodies? Who are you kidding?”
Impossible. Can’t be done. You wanna pass legislation to establish social security, Medicare, Medicaid, a minimum wage, clean air and water standards … impossible.
In other words, as Nelson Mandela told us, everything is impossible until it is done. In these difficult times, despair is not an option. We’ve got to fight back in every way we can.
We have to get involved in the political process, run for office, connect with our local, state, and federal legislators, donate to candidates who will fight for the working class of this country. We have got to create new channels for communication and information sharing. We have to volunteer, not just politically, but to build community locally. Whatever we can do is what we must do. Needless to say, I intend to do my part both inside the beltway and traveling throughout the country to stand up for working families and to take on the oligarchy in the days, weeks, and months ahead.
I hope you’ll join me in that struggle. We can win. We will win. We must win. Thank you very much.”