Man of deeds
POLITICO-SPEAK is full of words designed to mean little or even nothing at all.
This is not news, nor is this “fake news”, but as the end of 2017 rushes towards us, it’s a good time to remember we are facing a whole basket full of knowns, unknowns and unknowables, and these problems will not be solved with more words. We need some research, some development and some action.
Our media is peppered with sound and fury. Hourly press releases and Twitter statements from the political classes that are enraged with the sins of the other house.
In Australia our major parties have been battering each other over citizenship. They are busy trying to find the next “gotcha moment” that proves the other side is a pack of liars.
This contortion is not leadership, it is dragging us back into the sea.
Sound-bites are bandied about by middle-aged men in blue suits, while the real social leadership is coming from outside the tent.
In the closing hours of 2017 it is clear the 21st century will not be shaped by “infrastructure prime ministers” and “war-time presidents”, this century is being handled by tech billionaires.
Facebook did not exist when the twin towers came down.
Today, it is impossible to imagine a world without Mark Zuckerberg. His greatest thought-leading rival is the man who should be king. If you don’t know who Elon Musk (pictured) is, you will pretty soon. He is changing the way we lead life.
There are visionaries and there are inventors. Musk is both.
He was born in South Africa, educated in Canada and the US. He is now the one of most influential thinkers. He was one of the founders of Pay-pal. When that company made him a fortune, he broke the rules of investment and put his money into his own speculative developments. He became involved with electric cars.
Musk took a Silicon Valley approach to design and development. He physically placed his engineers in the centre of the factory floor. This forced all streams of team to work and talk together.
He has branched out into his first love, his deepest vision; space exploration.
Space X is a cut-price NASA matched with an Apple design aesthetic. It has developed re- usable rockets and now supplies the international space station at a fraction of the cost governments can manage. In 2017 Musk famously built the world’s largest lithium battery, in South Australia. This venture came in on budget and under time. This is a passionate man, pursuing global change. I imagine this is the sort of person Malcolm Turnbull was thinking about when he coined the phrase; “Welcome to the ideas boom.” Musk is the man Mal wants to be. His concepts for a future are powered by clean energy. A recent Ipsos poll shows half of our country believe climate change is causing extreme weather events, but only 18 per cent of people are happy with the way our Federal Government is dealing with this issue. Malcolm doesn’t want to be remembered for this disappointment. Malcolm wants to show that his government is strong on action, not just verbiage.
Who doesn’t want a house that has a roof tiled with solar panels to ensure their car is powered and their electricity bill is a thing of the past?
Who doesn’t want to drive on a highway that recharges the car as you drive?
Who doesn’t want to drive a good-looking electric car that outperforms V8 supercars?
Who doesn’t want to colonise Mars?
These are not slogans or dreams, they are Elon Musk realities.
If we are interested in having a perfect world we should seriously consider out-sourcing planetary leadership to Musk.
Donald Trump is not “draining the swamp”. His recent tax cuts have built a wall between the rich and the working poor.
It is clear the current president is not an “ideas man”, he is a real estate developer and he is running the country like his own company.
He has stacked the board of directors with family and he is delivering dividends to his biggest shareholders.
If the US is ever going to be great again, it needs to drop the sloganeering and get Elon Musk in the White House. Then Australia could copy this visionary move, and we could have a future worth talking about. Ross Mueller is a freelance writer and director.