BOSTON—Tucker Carlson’s latest interview with Elon Musk, as dramatic as the revelation that supposedly private Twitter direct messages (DMs) were accessible to government spies may be, is just more evidence of what many of us have known for some time.
We live in a new form of totalitarian state that our representatives, thus far, have done nothing about.
Even though most of them, despite some public protestations, are bought and paid for by Silicon Valley, it’s not all their fault. We’re all complicit. We allowed this to happen, selling the soul of our constitutional republic for an iPhone.
This happened so fast that few of us realized it at the time, but we do now.
What to do?
We can’t rely on Musk to fix it, brilliant as he is. This isn’t a one-man job. We, the governed, must not “consent.” (Remember that old idea?) We must either force our officials to do something or elect new ones.
Once upon a time, the Democratic Party might have been a vehicle. I recall it was, in a universe far away, a bastion of free speech, or said it was. No longer. It wasn’t just COVID-19 that pushed them over the edge into rampant censorship, but it didn’t help.
The appearance of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a potential presidential contender on their side might change things—I am typing this in the lobby of the Boston Park Plaza hotel where, on April 19, he will make his formal announcement—but I am skeptical.
Virtually every Democrat I know has been too victimized by mass formation psychosis to countenance in a serious way, a way that might effectuate change, any truth that Kennedy might tell. It’s now a party of sheep willing, absurd as it now seems, to have followed the ever-changing diktats of Dr. Anthony Fauci.
So we are left with the Republicans who are only partly sheep.
Fortunately, the majority, or a sufficient number, watching what has happened in the past few years, still remember what Donald Trump did for the country—and the world actually. Despite whatever horse race the media might want to gin up, the polls have shown Trump to be the unwavering favorite of the GOP.
He’s likely to win the nomination with the only caveat being his health, which currently seems not to be an issue. The various legal accusations against him only make him stronger.
But even if reelected, Trump, like Musk, can’t do this alone. In fact, unless I’m mistaken, Trump, at 76, whatever his intentions and they’re usually laudable, has, by himself, nowhere near the technical expertise for the job.
Though most of us of a certain age—that includes me—may not like to admit it, keeping up with the rapidly evolving technology, with minor exceptions, is the province of the young.
Trump, like it or not, is going to need serious help.
This is especially true, as Musk has also pointed out, in our brave new world of chatGPT, with computers beginning to take over for us hopeless humans.
This has already become the great issue of our time, even—frightening as it is to say—of all time. What would be the point of a constitutional republic if the computers make all the decisions? This has to be brought under control, but how?
I couldn’t get that out of my head as I rode around New Hampshire with young biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who has also thrown his proverbial hat in the presidential ring. As I wrote previously, this man is impressive, and able to articulate conservative ideas as well as anybody on the current scene.
And, mirabile dictu, he began his career as a scientist.
Commenters to that previous article pointed out that Ramaswamy is new, and too, shall we say, “wet behind the ears” at 37 to serve as president. I understand, but the man I witnessed is probably just the person to be Trump’s running mate in our times.
If they can build mutual trust, he could arguably become the most important vice president in some time, because we are at that high-tech crossroads. Will it be man or machine? And who will control the machine, and dictate its algorithms?
Trump’s TruthSocial and Gettr, not to mention this outlet, may be valuable weapons against our Silicon Valley overlords, but they will have new roads to control every nanosecond.
And I write that, unashamedly, not even knowing exactly what a nanosecond is, how to measure it. Does Trump? Honestly? I say that with all due, and immense, respect for him.
He, and all of us, better take a long look at Vivek Ramaswamy.
