“No one elected Elon Musk,” Democrats have been pompously stating (see an example here).
This statement is angering for several reasons:
First of all, it is hypocritical. As various commentators on the post linked above have pointed out, no one elected Kamala Harris, or Bill Gates for the matter, yet Democrats aren’t complaining about them.
Second, a good argument can be made that people did, indeed, elect Elon Musk. As DC Draino explains in the post linked above, Trump campaigned with Musk and made it clear that Musk would play a role in his government. Trump also campaigned on the idea of cutting wasteful government spending, which is exactly what Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency are doing. A majority of people voted for Trump, knowing that Musk would be part of his administration; therefore people did, arguably, elect Musk.
Third, even if no one elected Elon Musk, so what? Because taxation is morally bad, and government spending requires taxation, government spending is morally bad. Spending should be kept to an absolute minimum in order to keep taxation to an absolute minimum. Therefore, the steps that Musk and DOGE have taken to cut government spending are morally good. And this is true regardless of whether anyone elected Musk, and regardless of whether anyone voted in favor of the things that Musk and DOGE are doing. Moral right and wrong are completely independent of what anyone voted for.
As Robert Kroese points out in a tweet that is quoted in the post linked above, “I didn’t vote for the FBI, ATF, CIA, PBS, NPR, FDA, WHO, UN, IRS, Federal Reserve, EPA or CDC.”
And I didn’t vote for the historical figures that I love to be brutally murdered, or for all people who work at a company with over 100 employees to be forced to undergo a medical procedure.
Yet Democrats did these things anyway.
For them to pompously condemn and shame Musk and Trump for actually doing something good with the government, is reprehensible.