The Shadow
Elon Musk: Status Quo Will Not Work
On March 18, astronauts sent to space by NASA and its historical aerospace partners could not
be brought home by that same team.
SpaceX came to the rescue!
Why did this happen?
It happened because Elon Musk recognizes the status quo will not work.
He founded SpaceX to do a mission largely abandoned by NASA, and that is to get man to Mars.
To paraphrase Gene Roddenberry, Musk wants us to boldly go where no human has gone before.
To do this, Musk had to start a new company, SpaceX.
He had to change the paradigm and the way his team looks at how to make rockets. Musk looked
at America’s policy of cost-plus procurement for aerospace vehicles.
Through trial and error, he found a better, less-expensive way to build rockets.
Many of the early rockets didn’t work. Some of them exploded.
But Musk understood if you’re going to do big things, the status quo will not work.
Early this year, I read a biography written on Elon Musk by bestselling author Walter Isaacson.
Isaacson has a background of covering innovative thinkers, from Da Vinci and Franklin to
Einstein and Jobs.
According to the cover of Musk’s biography, Isaacson spent two years shadowing Musk.
Isaacson attended Musk’s meetings, toured Musk’s factories and workplaces and interviewed
scores of people in Musk’s orbit.
Former Obama appointee Isaacson said in multiple interviews that there are appalling qualities to
Musk. But Isaacson also acknowledges there are admirable things to like about Musk.
Before SpaceX, Musk founded Tesla. Why did he found Tesla?
Musk wanted to help solve climate issues. So he started using innovative thinking to get things
done. He challenged and worked with his engineers to make it happen.
If they couldn’t do it a different way, they would fail. Musk knew the status quo would not
work.
Musk is also leading Neuralink, which is dedicated to discovering trailblazing medical devices
that connect the human brain to computers.
At Neuralink, he seeks to get outside the accepted paradigms in order to unearth potential
positive interactions between the human brain and computers.
This technology is designed to help people who suffer from paralysis by enabling them to
remotely control devices using brain activity.
Other Neuralink capabilities could treat neurological disorders and enhance cognitive abilities.
In this area, Musk understands the status quo will not work.
The above projects are some of the major technological, breakthrough innovations spearheaded
by Musk.
But these projects were far from easy to complete. Part of Musk’s genius is using unconventional
thinking to propel ideas into reality.
As a self-made man, Musk knows what it takes to get results. He is not afraid to break things and
then fix them.
That mentality is exactly why President Trump tapped Musk to help root out waste, fraud and
abuse in the federal government.
President Obama and then-Vice President Biden even embraced the importance of rooting out
waste!
Given his role advising the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk understands
that government cannot continue as usual.
Our country is at a major crossroads. The national debt barrels towards $37 trillion and the
government continues to build up massive budget deficits.
Once again, Musk recognizes the status quo will not work.
Should we remain with the status quo, the United States risks becoming a second-rate nation.
I am generally supportive of efforts to challenge the status quo in Washington D.C., encouraging
greater transparency and rooting out waste.
Musk has told us they will make mistakes. And in this process so will Congress.
But when we make mistakes, we have to have the courage to override our egos, recognize the
mistakes and fix them.
What we cannot do is accept the status quo in order to make the elitist establishment happy.
This process is understandably difficult, unsettling, and upsetting, but to make the U.S.
government more efficient, more responsive and more attuned to the needs of our country in the
long-term, and not just the next year, we must go through this period of great change.
To not do so will only hurt future generations. To not do so will ensure our children and
grandchildren have a lower quality of life than what we currently enjoy.
As discussed above, this process will not be perfect. Legitimate concerns will be addressed!
But now is a time in history when we have an opportunity to make a difference. And like Musk,
we should not, and I will not, accept a status quo that will not work.
If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my
Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.
To reach my office via email, please visit my website at morgangriffith.house.gov.
