Musk and his misplaced pride

OPINION:

Elon Musk in an X post just announced the creation of a new “American Party” as a means of addressing what he perceives as failures of the Republican and Democrat parties and to give us all back our freedom.

Musk’s hubris is as remarkable as it is offensive.

After taking a poll, he wrote this on his social media platform: “By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it! Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

Thing is — Musk is not the provider of freedom. In America, freedom comes from God. As the founders put it, the idea of God-given freedom is self-evident. As founders wrote it, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness …”

As founders knew it, individuals don’t need no stinkin’ bureaucrat or elected official or politician or political party to dole out rights and liberties because these things are already endowed to the individual by God. Like a set of lungs to breathe. Like the air in the atmosphere fill the lungs to breathe.

Musk may be frustrated with the political world right now — and that’s his right to express. 

Musk may be furious with the president of the United States — and that’s his right to state.

Musk may be frustrated and furious enough with how the “big, beautiful bill” turned out that he wants to start a new political party to compete with the existing Republican and Democrat parties — and fine, have at it, that’s his right as an American citizen.

But he doesn’t hold the key to citizens’ freedoms. Wealth does not translate into superiority; it only gives the image of superiority.

And this is where Musk is making his big mistake. 

From a political perspective, neither Republicans nor Democrats want to see the creation of a new party because it will bleed off votes from their own camps. So there is that. But truthfully, there are already other political parties out there — there’s the Constitution Party, which no doubt offers much of what Musk is promising for his America Party; there’s also the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, and a growing base of socialists and communists who are trying very hard to cobble together enough influence to make their own parties of substantial power.

But Musk wants his own.

He has his own car company and now he wants his own political party.

It must get boring to be a billionaire. There are only so many playgrounds, after all. 

But the real mistake Musk is making is in his thinking: that is, he thinks God-given liberty is a tradable commodity. It’s not. America’s freedoms, individual liberties, the concept of individual rights — these are all matters of the spirit. They are the domain of God. For Musk to believe himself so important that he can “give you back your freedom” — that he can give us all back our freedom — means he must believe he holds these freedoms to dole as he pleases.

He does not.

He’s just a dude with money.

And Americans considering jumping from Republican or Democrat to vote in his new party ought to weigh very carefully this thought: If the disillusionment with the existing parties comes from a feeling of being exploited and ignored, then why make a horizontal move? Freedom does not come from the political world or the business or from any earthly source. If you want to see the source of freedom, look up.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.