Quote of the Day
Government is a corporation in the limit. It is the most corporate thing. It is maximum corporation. And it’s also a monopoly, and also is the only one that’s allowed legally to do violence.
Elon Musk
December 6, 2021
Posted on X by Dustin @r0ck3t23 on July 28, 2026
In a video interview a year earlier in 2020 you see a different version of the same concept: Watch Elon Musk on Regulators, Silicon Valley and Innovation.
I find it interesting listening to the two interviews back-to-back. They are similar with Musk cleaning up the phrasing a year later.
I think it is a valuable framing of government. The socialists/communists want to destroy the concept of a limited government and destroy corporation. They would replace those entities with some sort of “people’s government” that is nearly all powerful. But framing government as the ultimate corporation causes the communists to lose traction. Anything you can do to hinder socialism and communism is a net win for humanity.
Interesting. He must have read James Burnham, a philosopher and the author of “The Managerial Revolution” in 1941. Burnham said once (I do not know the source, but maybe not “The Managerial Revolution”) that the Soviet Union resembled the American Corporation in structure and behavior, just carried further. In that way, it might be considered “a corporation in the limit. It is the most corporate thing. It is maximum corporation.” As the American government becomes more powerful with that power in every aspect of life, we can see this enlargement of government power as we were able to see it develop and behave in other countries around the world, and in the last century.
One small Quibble, though. When citizens or other persons act as he implies, it is generally called Violence. When a government does it, it is called Force. That term implies legitimacy.