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Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (a prudent course of action in the US these days, especially for the unarmed), Elon Musk has been leading an effort to make the government more “efficient.” But, definitions of that word may vary. In Elon’s wake, there’s a lot of chaos and disorder. Some theorize that this might be an effort to destabilize the government so that its functions can be privatized or eliminated altogether, making it too difficult for all the king’s horses and men (were they motivated) to put the social safety net, the FAA, and everything else back together again.
In response to this, protesters are targeting Tesla. Because it’s a staple of Elon Musk’s wealth, bringing attention to what he’s doing, associating that with the company he runs (on paper), and causing sales to further tank seems like a good strategy. If the man behind the effort can have his economic power downsized, he might back off and stop pushing for his strange brand of “efficiency.”
But this effort is now running into the police in multiple cities. Instead of allowing lawful assembly on public property and focusing on protesters who trespass inside Tesla property, police are blocking off access to public property in front of Tesla’s retail locations.
It sure does take a lot of cops to protect Elon’s feelings.
In this example from Chicago, there are videos in the replies (sadly only available to people logged into BlueSky) showing that the police line extended a considerable distance to either side. Hundreds of police blocked off a large area of public property to protect Elon Musk from losing sales. In other cities, police were a little more reasonable, only blocking access to little more than the curtilage and within arm’s reach of Tesla property. But New York’s police showed up in great numbers, visibly wearing bundles of zip ties and flying a drone to intimidate protesters.
While every private property owner deserves to have their interests protected from vandals, trespassers, and other criminals, there’s nothing even remotely criminal about peacefully protesting from adjacent public property. No lives are in danger, and in most cases, nobody has been prevented from going in and patronizing the business as long as they’re willing to endure the peaceful free speech of the protesters. You’d think that a free speech absolutist would appreciate this.
Despite the complete lack of criminality here, police are expending great resources to protect the oligarchy. There’s really no other reasonable explanation for showing up in great numbers except that it could be an opportunity to soak up some overtime pay.
What’s particularly frustrating about this great public expense being used to protect the wealth of an oligarch from lawful assembly is that the police are under no obligation to protect people. Sure, the police do have a general duty to fight crime and increase public safety, but failure to show up and protect any particular individual brings no legal consequences. Even egregious failures to protect, such as the sheriff’s deputy who cowered in fear while a school shooter murdered children, cannot be punished under United States caselaw.
When public safety agencies show up to protect the interests of the wealthy when they can’t be bothered to protect people from actual crime, we need to call a spade a spade. We’re facing a coup or an autogolpe (depending on what definitions you want to go with), and the people who took an oath to protect the Constitution that’s being destroyed are siding with the biggest criminals of all.
That a once great cleantech company is sitting squarely in the middle of this crisis really sucks. Hopefully soon the Tesla board will realize that they have a fiduciary duty to step in and stop the carnage by disconnecting the company from its technoprince.
Featured image: a screenshot from Bluesky showing discussion of police protecting Tesla stores from lawful protests (fair use).
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