# Why America was founded (Elon Musk rant) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** elon-musk\ **Created:** [December 20, 2024, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917 "2024-12-20T13:49:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/1 "2024-12-20T13:49:37Z")
America declared independence and fought a war because a rich, unelected, foreign man (King George III) told Americans what to do for his own benefit. Now history is repeating itself … Elon Musk “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” [Elon Musk comes out swinging against government spending package in early test of his political might | CNN Business](https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/18/media/elon-musk-government-spending-bill-doge/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Eric1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3bc359/32.png) [@Eric1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eric1)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/2 "2024-12-20T14:00:31Z")
At my job, the HR trainer used to have portraits of he, Simone Biles, Mariah Carey and Steven Hawking because they had lived with disabilities and were successful. He took down Musk’s portrait this week because the guy’s too much. I could hardly agree more. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/3 "2024-12-20T14:02:10Z")
Not even close to being a fair comparison. Musk is a private citizen who is allowed to say whatever he wants in support of his position, not a King. People are free to ignore his advice and know him for the blowhard that he has turned out to be. He is no differnt from the robber barons from the 1890’s from what I can tell, too much money and too full of himself. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/4 "2024-12-20T14:31:19Z")
There’s a saying that goes, “If you’re going to pee in the pool, at least don’t do it from the diving board”. Rich people have always influenced American politics, some of them to an alarming degree, but they’ve all made at least a nominal effort to be discreet about it. What Musk is doing by letting it all hang out in the open, may be taking it a step too far. Time will tell. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/5 "2024-12-20T15:20:43Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > People are free to ignore his advice Musk gave milllions to Trump’s campaign (no doubt in exchange for for tax cuts for billionaires) and (as shown above) has threatened elected Republicans. In case you haven’t noticed, Republicans who disagree with Trump find a MAGA candidate running against them in the next Primary… ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/6 "2024-12-20T15:25:25Z")
This is not new. Republicans have recieved threats from MAGA supporters since Trump took office the first time and from Tea Party supports before that. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/7 "2024-12-20T15:35:49Z")
And they have proven themselves to be related to invertebrates over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/8 "2024-12-20T15:41:10Z")
Correct, I’m not saying that they are not, I forgot that I was in the pit. They are part of a long line of invertebrates that have evovled into the nasty slimey ones they are today. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/9 "2024-12-20T15:46:02Z")
> [@glee](#): > > America declared independence and fought a war because a rich, unelected, foreign man (King George III) told Americans what to do for his own benefit. That’s a gross oversimplification. The truth is that for several years leading up to the revolution, the colonists stressed they were loyal to King George, but they had a problem with parliament and wanted his help. George essentially told the colonists, “I govern through parliament. If you’re loyal to me you’ll do as they say.” You’ll certainly find colonists that didn’t like the king, Thomas Payne being a famous example, but popular opinion and statements against the king himself really didn’t gain traction until not too long before the revolution started. i.e. It wasn’t just the machinations of King George the colonists were upset about it was the entire system by which Great Britain exploited them. > [@glee](#): > > Elon Musk “Any member of the House or Senate who votes for this outrageous spending bill deserves to be voted out in 2 years!” Say what you want about George, at least he was the head of state. Who the hell is Musk? ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/10 "2024-12-20T15:47:29Z")
I saw a great meme today – it shows a MAGA hat screaming that George Soros wants to buy the election and Bill Gates wants to put chips in your brain. Then, it shows Musk saying “I want to buy the election and put chips in your brain” and MAGA was, “OK, sounds good”. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/11 "2024-12-20T15:51:40Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > This is not new. Republicans have recieved threats from MAGA supporters since Trump took office the first time and from Tea Party supports before that. Yes, but now Musk is saying unless elected republicans vote how Musk wants, he personally will fund MAGA opponents. Also Musk has been given authority to make massive cuts in the system… Musk has suggested that the commission could help to cut the [U.S. federal budget](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget) by up to US$2 trillion through measures such as reducing waste, abolishing redundant agencies, and downsizing the federal workforce. [Department of Government Efficiency - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Government_Efficiency) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/12 "2024-12-20T18:29:42Z")
The United States was founded because a bunch of rich White guys didn’t want to pay their fair share of taxes. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/13 "2024-12-20T18:36:21Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > There’s a saying that goes, “If you’re going to pee in the pool, at least don’t do it from the diving board”. Rich people have always influenced American politics, some of them to an alarming degree, but they’ve all made at least a nominal effort to be discreet about it. What Musk is doing by letting it all hang out in the open, may be taking it a step too far. Time will tell. I am looking at the right-wingers in power right now, and “discreet” is definitely not a word I would use. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/14 "2024-12-20T18:36:24Z")
Going back further, the colonies were founded as a business venture. The Virigina Company sold shares to fund the expeditions to the New World, hoping to find gold or other riches. The actual colonists who risked their lives and did the hard work of establishing new settlements, were middle or working-class people looking for a better situation elsewhere than they could get at home. A lot of what we are seeing today makes sense when you realize we’ve been a business venture exploiting the peasants since the very beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/15 "2024-12-20T18:44:54Z")
And Elon Musk was interested in politics at a very young age ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/16 "2024-12-20T18:48:55Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > A lot of what we are seeing today makes sense when you realize we’ve been a business venture exploiting the peasants since the very beginning. God, that pretty much explains _everything_ about us. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/17 "2024-12-20T18:52:31Z")
It’s OK if you are a Republican billionaire. Slight modification to long-standing acronym - IOKIYARB [![](https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/cache/media_attachments/files/113/661/702/305/007/007/small/933cb28362e7d743.jpg) ](https://cdn.masto.host/mastodongamedevplace/cache/media_attachments/files/113/661/702/305/007/007/small/933cb28362e7d743.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/18 "2024-12-20T18:52:54Z")
Haha! That’s the one! ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/19 "2024-12-20T19:09:28Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The United States was founded because a bunch of rich White guys didn’t want to pay their fair share of taxes. They didn’t mind paying taxes. They just wanted a say in how they were governed which doesn’t sound unreasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917/20 "2024-12-20T19:27:31Z")
[I thought it was those 18 “He Has” and nine “for”](https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript) royal ass-chappers (some on which they turned right around and committed themselves). “Merciless Indian savages?” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-america-was-founded-elon-musk-rant/1011917.md?page=2)