Life, Liberty, Property -- And #TeslaTakedown
Property ownership is an unalienable right guaranteed to all Americans. Could a recent wave of violence targeting Tesla owners undermine property rights, further eroding the Constitution?
People are mad at Elon Musk. And I mean really mad.
Like most tech CEOs, Elon Musk wasn’t too involved in politics. Things changed in 2022 after he purchased Twitter – now X – and formally reinstated President Donald Trump onto the platform. While proponents of the move heralded the return of free speech, opponents warned Trump would spread misinformation and incite violence.
Oh, the irony.
During the 2024 presidential election, Musk formally entered the foray of politics. At a speech in Butler, PA – three months after an assassin’s bullet nearly ended then-candidate Trump’s campaign – Musk had this to say:
Free speech is the bedrock of democracy. And if people don’t know what’s going on, if they don’t know the truth, how can you make an informed vote? You must have free speech in order to have democracy. That’s why it’s the First Amendment. And the Second Amendment is there to ensure that we have the First Amendment. President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. (transcript)
Between providing financial support to Trump’s campaign and stumping for him in key battleground states, Elon Musk played a pivotal role in Trump’s election. Now he’s helping Trump fulfill one of his biggest campaign promises: finally draining the swamp.
Trump named Musk as head of the U.S. DOGE Service to rout out fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government. To date, the DOGE team has identified an estimated $115 billion in waste. This has led to the cancellation of contracts across the government and an unprecedented reduction in the size of the federal workforce. To say Washington is enraged would be an understatement.
The anti-Trump crowd doesn’t see Musk as a benevolent public servant. Rather he is an unelected God-king who has weaseled his way into the sacred halls of government. His mission isn’t to save democracy – it’s to destroy it.
In response, an armed resistance has formed to takedown Tesla and thwart Musk’s attempt to take over the country. As of this writing, $TSLA is down 38% since the start of the year and some investors are calling for Musk to step down. But what may have started out as an effort to send a message to Elon Musk has devolved into violent acts of domestic terrorism targeted at Tesla vehicles and their owners.
Democracy is under threat, but it isn’t because Trump is in the White House. The lack of border security, deterioration of local policing, suppression of free speech, and weaponization of due process of law over the last several years has eroded the efficacy of the U.S. Constitution. Now, with the latest spat of violence, it’s becoming clear that property rights are now in peril too.
Free speech is a fundamental American right – but so is the ability to own property. Without ownership, capitalism cannot exist. And if capital cannot freely – and safely – flow within the American economy, everything grinds to a halt.
But this wouldn’t just be a loss for wealthy billionaires like Musk. The end of ownership would be the end of America as we know it, and with it, all of the unalienable rights we take for granted today.
This essay will dive into the #TeslaTakedown protests through the lens of property rights. It’ll argue that property ownership is the key to economic mobility and innovation. Without it, Americans will have nothing to defend and no hope to work towards.
What happens when a country loses its reason for existence? If enough people keep vandalizing Teslas we may soon find out.