"We have a culture in our state where these huge corporations run by billionaires “move fast and break things.” Rules. Orders. Laws. People. All without consequence."

"But Gonzalez’s formulation raises a vital question for a free society. What happens when governments issue rules and orders that break the law and break people, all without consequence?"

"What are they to do in the face of such an extreme power grab? Now, the super-obedient, “never-rock-the-boat” answer to this is limited to “petition your government” and “vote the bums out.” "

"Of course, Musk isn’t resorting to muskets. But what he is doing is also firmly established in American tradition: civil disobedience."

"Thoreau modeled civil disobedience when he refused to pay taxes that would fund an immoral war. His resistance was studiously non-violent, and he gave himself up to capture and imprisonment, thereby establishing two more precedents for the civil disobedience tradition: both of which were emulated by Martin Luther King, Jr and Mahatma Gandhi."

"Whatever you think of Elon Musk in general, his gesture of civil disobedience is laudable and may even be worth emulating. Civil disobedience may be key to recovering our liberty and prosperity in the post-COVID world. As Thoreau wrote:

-- Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves."
-- Tesla’s Elon Musk Defies Government Orders in an Act of Economic Civil Disobedience