The world turned upside down

It’s sort of amazing to see the reverse polarization that has occurred.

Sitting in class in Friday and discussing zoning ordinances and variance hearings, I jumped into the conversation and made a comment about the zoning process: it seemed that a whole bunch of rich, white people (before November 5, 2024, formerly referred to as “the devil”) were trying to block a 230 acre bike park in Conifer that would have resulted in increased traffic in the neighborhood and presumably, a decline in value in the homes of the neighbors. They successfully won a “zoning challenge” and I opined: “Why not sell the group the 230 acres for like $40 mm (or whatever) and redeploy the dollars into low income housing? Protesting a zoning hearing without putting capital behind your objection feels like a waste.”

“David, that’s not how government works.”

“Maybe now that Elon is involved, it will …”

The room was abuzz: “I hate Elon!” was the consensus, which is functionally hilarious. Elon, formerly the champion of the environment and dependable democrat saving the planet is now a conspiracy theory capitalist that stole an election by buying Twitter. It has been a strange flip flop of the people who used to love him and those that used to hate him!

Needless to say, because I’m like this, the emotions the mere mention of Elon’s name stirred in my classmates was all I needed to go to the website of my favorite used car dealership and immediately purchase the Tesla S Plaid they had on the lot. Having never driven a Tesla, and to be honest, having until recently rejected the thought about owning one, it is fair to say my thinking has evolved. I truly believe Elon had a huge hand in “saving democracy and merit” last week. With Trump’s appointment of Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy (brilliant move), and his other appointments to date, the truth is I’m all for Tulsi, RFK Jr. and Vivek/Elon breaking government and rebuilding back better. But, for real. The truth is if Vivek/Elon et al. can restore merit, fairness, free speech and end pharmaceutical advertising in this country while cutting $2 trillion of government spending, that’s enough to make me buy a Tesla.

To be clear, I remain consistent in previous thinking: I’ve never liked, nor will I ever approve of, EV car mandates; I hate the valuation of Tesla as a company (even the pre Tesla his insane post election run up) so won’t own the stock; and, I fully know that the car is going to be a “city car only” but.. my love for Elon has only grown since I wrote this 2.5 years ago.

On day 3 with the new car I’ll share three things.

The car is the fastest car on the planet and I’ve never driven or felt anything like it. With 1040 horsepower equivalent, the acceleration is breathtaking and it is the most fun car I’ve ever driven by far.

Second, the self driving feature is incredible. Generally, I don’t drive myself anymore, the car just takes me to the destination: you have to see it to believe it. Highways. Neighborhoods. Everywhere. It’s incredible. It gets mad at me when I try to read emails and shuts off the auto driving feature but if the government changes the self driving regulations to allow for it, it will be a game changer for city drivers in my opinion it’s pretty amazing.

And third, I already have range anxiety. There is a place for electric vehicles, but like free speech, vaccine mandates and DEI, they must be based in “choice” and let the best technology win.

Is it January 20th yet? I can’t wait to see what Elon comes up with next.