Elon Musk is right: Secure borders, safe cities and sensible spending aren’t ‘fringe’

Musk’s Common-Sense Vision: Why Secure Borders and Safe Cities Are Not Radical Ideas

Provpnadvice.com – During a recent conversation with “The Economist,” Elon Musk posed what might be the defining question of our era. His interviewer, Zanny Minton Beddoes, challenged him with a pointed observation: “You support, not just the populist right, but the far right — in fact very fringe parties in some countries.” Musk’s reply was straightforward and compelling: “No, I support the normal people.”

For many on the political left, Musk has become something of a lightning rod. Numerous progressives seek to either debate or outright condemn his understanding of what constitutes “normal.” Rather than getting caught up in semantic arguments, I find it more valuable to focus on what I consider Musk’s most significant contribution to the conversation during that interview.

“Here are the principles, and tell me, which of these sound terrible,” he said. “That we should have secure borders? That we should have safe cities? That we should have sensible spending? Which of those three are far-right fringe?”

My own journey toward conservative thinking emerged not from ideological indoctrination, but from personal experience. Having grown up in abject poverty and endured thirty-four evictions throughout my childhood, I discovered that common sense and pragmatic approaches served as my life preservers in what often felt like a sea of despair. As an adult, I recognized that the entrenched elites within both major political parties cared more about maintaining their own power than addressing the needs of ordinary citizens and the disenfranchised.

For two decades, I have identified as an independent, consistently seeking out commonsense and pragmatic individuals who offer practical solutions for the majority of Americans—particularly the working class and those without a voice. This approach has always meant accepting the best ideas regardless of their source, even when they come from flawed personalities. This attitude has gained renewed significance in the Trump era.

Currently, my primary concern revolves around the safety and future wellbeing of all children and grandchildren—not exclusively Republican, conservative, or faith-based ones, but every child regardless of background.

Safe cities, secure borders, and sensible spending represent exactly the kind of common-sense, pragmatic objectives that benefit young people. If New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), or Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson were to present these three elements as fundamental needs for the working class and disenfranchised, I believe most people on the left would find them reasonable. However, in an era where police-defunding and prison-abolition have become increasingly fashionable, such advocates rarely champion these solutions.

Musk does champion them. And like President Trump, simply mentioning his name can provoke anger among certain segments of the left. Yet as they criticize Musk, they might reflect on this: during my childhood, it was the Democratic Party that opposed discrimination and censorship while fighting for the disenfranchised. That is less evident today. Now, many on the left respond with hate, censorship, and cancellation. Anyone who does not align completely with their narrative becomes an adversary.

Four years ago, I highlighted this developing trend in my book titled, “The 56: Liberty Lessons From Those Who Risked All to Sign the Declaration of Independence.” I was hearing increasing calls to cancel our Founding Fathers, to remove their names from schools and buildings through sandblasting, and to “reimagine” American history entirely. My position remains consistent: if our history contains flaws, we must learn from them. If it contains strengths, we should praise them and build upon them. But we must never, ever cancel our shared American history.

We inhabit highly polarized, siloed, and dangerous times. Discussion, debate, and civility have largely disappeared. If we do not embrace common sense and pragmatism as a nation and civilization, everything we value will be lost.

Whether you like him or hate him, Musk has raised a question that is critical to the long-term survival of any nation and its people. If we want to coexist peacefully while helping and protecting the least among us, we need to address this now.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official.