I had a chance to listen to the first X Spaces hosted by David Sacks and Elon Musk in order to introduce people to presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Author’s Note: X is the new branded name for what was once called “Twitter.” This blog is renamed “What’s Up X?”
Ramaswamy is an American entrepreneur and a candidate in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.
David Sachs hosted the XSpace and introduced Ramaswamy and then he was welcomed to speak by Elon Musk.
The first topic touched on the meaning of existence, and Ramaswamy mentioned that he’s 37 years old, the first millennial to run for president, and he said that many in his generation are looking for a way to be involved, but when people ask them what it means to be an American, many cannot answer that question. Elon Musk said he thinks young people should aspire to be the good guys.
Turning Fiction into Reality
Elon explained that he grew up watching shows where Americans were the good guys and he thinks people can find meaning in life by trying to understand the nature of the universe. Inventing and building new things is also something he thinks the younger generation can aspire to.
Elon said this is the reason that he is a big fan of expanding the scope and scale of humanity and that consciousness should be expanded, and we should believe that civilization is a good thing and not a bad thing.
Elon made a point that we’ve seen amazing fictional movies and read sci-fi books about the future, and he believes those things should come to pass, and not remain fiction. He believes we should become a multi-planetary species because this gives people purpose and a reason to wake up in the morning and be excited about the future.
Amidst cheerful sounds of Elon’s son, Lil X, playing in the background, Elon spoke about truth, saying that it’s important to believe there’s truth, and we should be aspiring to truth.
Ramaswamy asked what the conditions are that allow people to aspire to truth.
Elon said Earth is not the worst place and we should make it the best place possible, and he’s not thinking of colonizing Mars because Earth will never be a viable option in the future.
Instead, it will be nice to see the fictional life of Star Trek come to pass, where we are a multi-planet species.
How To Address Problems at Schools and Universities
Ramaswamy said that on this planet, he believes a revival (religious) of a sense of grounding and belief in a strong family is important. This led Elon to bring up another interesting point that at many Ivy League and top universities, students are being taught that it is not good to be a patriotic American. He believes it is a grave mistake to teach this to students.
I can attest, as I have a daughter, who works at the University of Texas, Austin, and the American flag is considered offensive, while the LGTBQ+ flag is considered politically correct. David Sachs added that in San Francisco, they ripped Abraham Lincoln’s name off one of the high schools.
Ramaswamy agreed with Elon saying, when students are successful, they are often ashamed of that success, and try to hide it, he says it’s because America has always been number one, and students are taught to believe it is not good to be number one. Ramaswamy said part of America’s role in the world was to provide an example of what is possible when you have a country founded on those ideals, but once you start apologizing to the world for those ideals, there’s a permanent loss of history.
Ramaswamy asked Elon Musk what he would do about it. This was Elon’s answer.
Elon said we should be castigating the schools and universities for doing this to our kids. He advised donors to universities and high schools to rescind their donations and ask for change before they donate again.
It sounded like Elon also was going to say stop sending your kids to those schools if they continue that, but he was cut off by Vivek who said “We want to make sure that America remains a meritocracy where smarts and hard work are rewarded instead of having an elite ruling class.”
Ramaswamy made the point that when students are ashamed of the exceptionalism of America, and when they apologize for being American, it’s like self-flogging. He said it’s like when you wear a burlap hair shirt and beat yourself with a stick. Elon disagreed when Vivek said that the climate movement is a form of self-flogging.
Helping Our Earth’s Climate is Not Far-Right Wing
Elon said that he believes he may have done more for our earth’s climate, than any other individual past or present.
He says he feels it’s extremely bizarre when people label him as a far-right extremist. Elon said that he has literally been pouring blood, sweat, and tears into protecting the environment. He doesn’t understand what these people are talking about when they say that he’s a far-right conservative and he perceives himself to be a moderate, he cares about humans and our civilization, he is not far left, nor far right, but a centrist.
Why Are ESGs (Environmental, Social, Governance) Harmful?
The discussion turned to ESGs. You may already know that ESGs allow companies to be rewarded for woke policies of diversity and inclusion but then exclude many people.
Essentially, both Ramaswamy and Elon agreed that ESGs are harmful not only to companies but for people in the United States.
Elon said that fundamentally people have been misled and they’ve given their savings over to 401(k) plans that rate high on the ESG scale. Elon explained that people are having their money invested in index funds and ESG funds with the hope of the funds gaining in value so that they can have a secure retirement. Contrary to what people think, the voting that happens in these mutual fund environments is not in the best interest of profit nor in the interest of people.
Elon mentioned the names Vanguard, Blackrock, Fidelity, and T Rowe. He said that these companies are lying to shareholders.
Essentially, it’s possible that these mutual fund companies are setting themselves up for one of the largest class action lawsuits ever. This is because they are lying to their shareholders. Elon said it’s because they are breaking the deal with their customers, and they are not maximizing shareholder value.
The Government Monopoly on Violence
Elon also explained that the government is a corporation in the limit. “It is the most important corporation and the biggest and it’s got a monopoly on violence. And so you should say, how much violence do you want the government to do? Not that much, less, generally not more.”
As background, in political philosophy, a monopoly on violence or monopoly on the legal use of force is the property of a political system that is the only entity in its jurisdiction to legitimately use force, and thus the supreme authority of that area.
“As we speak, the flower of Ukrainian youth is dying in trenches.” – Elon Musk
On Ukraine, Elon mentioned we should know that our money is going to help the people of Ukraine, not a handful of oligarchs.
Elon Musk said, sadly,
“There has to be forgiveness, and there has to be some realism. And we have to look at Ukraine and Russia by not turning Russia into a devil and Ukraine into an angel. There are no angels in war.
“The flower of Ukrainian youth is dying in trenches. Why are these boys dying? For what?”
“We should also be sad that there are Russian boys dying in trenches. Why are these young men dying because of disagreements between old men? Why? And entrenched warfare where only a few miles are exchanged? At what price? How many lives per mile is a life worth?
“If you don’t forgive your enemy, you’re stuck in a circle of retribution forever. There has to be forgiveness.”
Ramaswamy said if he was voted into office, he would strike down legislation that President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed into law, which has prevailed ever since. He said he would strike that law down, and most likely it has evolved into something it was never intended to be. He carefully explained that we should be rewarded for the value of our contributions and that it should not be based on any other factors.
I’m unclear which law Ramaswamy plans to strike down, as the Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress and signed by LBJ in 1964, outlawing segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels.
On June 29, 2023, the US Supreme Court ruled affirmative action is unconstitutional, ending race-conscious admissions in higher education. He could be referring to Executive Order 11246. President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246, in 1965 prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, and national origin by those organizations receiving federal contracts and subcontracts. This order could legally be struck down by Congress.
Interested in Etymology?
Lightening up the conversation about race, Elon mentioned that he owns etymology.com, which if you link to it, is simply an orange emoji. Elon announced that if there is somebody who would love to expand that, and go hard-core on it, he may be willing to sell it to that person.
FBI/CIA
Another point Elon brought up is that he has met a lot of people who work at the FBI and the CIA, and he stated that he thinks they have a lot of integrity.
Closing Thoughts
In closing, Elon said the discussion with Ramaswamy was important and that many people may agree with his position, and that he likely has won over a lot of people. He added there are a lot of things that sound pro-democracy and are ballot harvesting and are used to hack (votes). He said Goerge Soros is a talented arbitrator and he’s applied that talent monetarily and politically and he figured out that through charitable organizations you can promote a cause with pre-tax money and that doesn’t count in any of the political stuff. It is effective because you do not attack the candidate, just the positions that they hold. Then you hire a big team to harvest ballots from Nursing Homes and all that sort of stuff. “There are real things that have happened. I don’t think we should counter corruption with corruption but there does need to be a get-out-the-vote campaign. Clearly, Republicans need to work harder at winning over voters. Especially in key House and Senate races and Presidency.”
Ramaswamy said this country has blessed him with so much. He said he wants to win the Presidency and has invested mostly his own dollars in his campaign thus far. He says it takes $2B to get elected and he raises money through donors. He invited listeners to donate. His link is on his X account profile.
Elon said it is “Rare to meet a politician that is not an NPC.” referring to Ramaswamy.
ᴀʀᴛɪᴄʟᴇ ʙʏ ɢᴀɪʟ ᴀʟꜰᴀʀ. ᴘʟᴇᴀꜱᴇ ʟᴇᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴏꜰ ᴀɴʏ ᴇʀʀᴏʀꜱ ɪɴ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴀʀᴛɪᴄʟᴇ, ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴅᴏɴᴇ ᴍʏ ʙᴇꜱᴛ ᴛᴏ ɪɴᴛᴇʀᴘʀᴇᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ xꜱᴘᴀᴄᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ ʜɪɢʜʟɪɢʜᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʜɪꜱᴛᴏʀɪᴄ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ-ᴇᴠᴇʀ xꜱᴘᴀᴄᴇ. ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴀʀᴛɪᴄʟᴇ ɪꜱ ʙʀᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ʙʏ ʙᴜʀɴᴛ ʜᴀɪʀ ᴄᴏʟᴏɢɴᴇ.
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