My Twisted Reaction to Elon Musk Saying DOGE Is Mulling Over Giving $5,000 to Americans

I had a wakeup call that reminded me how easy it is to get things twisted, even when you typically keep things straight in your mind. Nothing like realizing you’ve swallowed some of the Kool-Aid when you hear that Elon Musk is mulling over the idea of giving Americans $5,000 following the waste DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) is discovering—and your reaction is all wrong.

Upon learning that Musk, who advises DOGE, is reportedly weighing the idea of the agency giving out $5,000 checks, I immediately thought how ridiculous it is to give away the government’s money after recouping money. Isn’t that just more waste? I thought. But then reality hit: “The government’s money”? We are the government. It’s the American taxpayers’ money that has been demanded and then poured into all kinds of nonsense. I highlighted some of that nonsense on my most recent podcast episode of Adrienne Ross². The money that has been wasted is, in fact, my own money, so it’s not wasteful for those who have access to it to return it; it’s right. If, for example, law enforcement tracks down someone who has ripped off my neighbor, when the property is found, after the necessary procedures have taken place, officials return said property to the rightful owner, my neighbor. We, the people, are the rightful owners who have been ripped off.