Mr. Elon Musk

I was thinking about Woody Guthrie’s song “Mr. Charlie Lindbergh” and how it could be written today about Elon Musk.

Woody took the tune from Charlie Poole’s song about the slow, post-shooting death of President Mckinley, “White House Blues.”

McKinley was pretty fond of tariffs, like the current president, who is trying to name Mt Denali after him (this also has been done before).

Charles Lindbergh was a daring pilot who was greatly admired by the public. Elon Musk held a similar position for a while, as a “brilliant, hard-working rich man” directing his wealth towards solving (what he saw as) humanity’s greatest problems.

Charles Lindbergh showed sympathy for Nazi Germany as Hitler gained power in the 1930s. He joined an organization called, what do you know, America First, which is one of the main MAGA slogans today, and which Woody Guthrie refers to in his song. Now, Elon Musk, this once widely-admired guy, has also expressed his sympathies with racism and fascism, though he has also illegitimately assumed unchecked power over the government of the USA.

That’s quite a ways more extreme than Lindbergh.

So, these are historical reasons for writing this song. I don’t mean to direct my hatred towards one person or one group, though. If Elon Musk or Donald Trump were to magically disappear, well, there would still be plenty of rich boys exploiting the rest of us. It’s the systems that allow that to happen that should be focused on. Groups of people are not to blame.

That being said, rich people are not a kind, but a condition of people.

And since their greed just might destroy all life on earth and everything beautiful you ever loved or hoped or dreamed of, well, I think it’s quite OK to have a little fun … “at their expense.”