Elon Musk spent nearly half a billion dollars on the midterm elections.
Half a billion dollars!
That’s $500 million, give or take a few Teslas.
And after all that money, the candidates he was supporting suffered some spectacular defeats.
Now, I’m not suggesting money doesn’t matter in politics. Of course it does. But this got me thinking about something I’ve been doing for the last several months.
I’ve been walking around Greensboro, North Carolina, talking to complete strangers.
That’s it.
No advertising campaign. No political consultants. No focus groups. No television commercials.
Just me, walking up to somebody and saying, “Hey, can I ask you a few questions?”
And you know what?
They talk!
It’s absolutely amazing what happens when you ask somebody a question and then shut the hell up long enough to hear the answer.
Apparently, this is a revolutionary concept in American politics.
Listening!
Who would’ve thought?
Now, according to the Times, Mr. Musk spent much of his money trying to get people to vote.
He had people knocking on doors, sending text messages, running advertisements, and using artificial intelligence to deliver personalized political messages.
Think about that.
We’ve reached the point where billionaires are using artificial intelligence to tell people what they should think.
Meanwhile, I’m standing outside a coffee shop in Greensboro asking somebody what they think.
And here’s what’s fascinating.
Almost everybody I’ve spoken with has something meaningful to say.
I’ve conducted hundreds of interviews, and when I’ve asked people whether they voted, every person I’ve asked has told me yes.
Now, that’s not a scientific survey. I understand that. I’m not pretending I’ve discovered the secret voting habits of the American electorate.
But I have discovered something else.
People want to be heard.
And not just about politics.
I ask people what they like about Greensboro. What they don’t like. What they’d change. And what they envision this city looking like ten years from now.
And the answers are extraordinary.
Some people want a more vibrant downtown.
Some are concerned about homelessness.
Some want better transportation, more affordable housing, better opportunities for young people.
And some people have ideas I’ve never even considered.
That’s the beautiful part.
I don’t have to have all the answers.
I just have to be curious enough to ask the questions.
Now, let’s get back to Elon Musk.
Here’s a man who builds rockets, electric cars, and artificial intelligence systems.
He’s involved in some of the most sophisticated technological enterprises in human history.
And his political operation spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to influence the behavior of voters.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with encouraging people to vote. Participation matters.
But I wonder what might happen if we invested that kind of money in understanding people instead.
Imagine having $500 million to work with.
Actually, imagine having $500 billion!
What would you do?
Well, I know what I’d do.
I’d start right here in Greensboro.
I’d find a handful of curious people who genuinely enjoy talking to strangers.
And I’d teach them what I’ve been doing.
Which shouldn’t be terribly difficult, because I’ve been making this shit up as I go along!
Seriously!
There’s no secret formula.
You walk up to somebody.
You introduce yourself.
You ask a question.
And then—and this is the really complicated part—you listen.
You don’t interrupt.
You don’t tell them why they’re wrong.
You don’t try to convince them to join your political party.
You just listen.
And sometimes, something remarkable happens.
You discover an opportunity.
Maybe you meet a young artist who has extraordinary talent but can’t afford the equipment needed to develop it.
Maybe you meet an entrepreneur with a brilliant idea who doesn’t know where to begin.
Maybe you meet somebody who’s identified a problem in their community and has an interesting idea for solving it.
That’s where my Eagle Crown Foundation comes in.
The foundation is built around a simple idea.
There are people everywhere with untold potential.
And sometimes, all they need is somebody to recognize it, encourage it, and help provide the resources to bring it to life.
Now imagine taking that idea beyond Greensboro.
We go to High Point.
Then Winston-Salem.
Then Raleigh.
Then Charlotte.
Eventually, we cover the entire state of North Carolina.
And then?
Why stop there?
But here’s the important part.
I don’t want to build some enormous organization.
I don’t want regional vice presidents, executive committees, deputy directors, assistant deputy directors, or a guy whose entire job is scheduling meetings about the next meeting.
Good Lord, we’ve already got enough of that in Washington!
I want a small, lean foundation.
People who understand the process and go out and do it themselves.
No elaborate hierarchy.
No unnecessary bureaucracy.
No waiting six months for a committee to approve a good idea.
You see an opportunity?
Explore it.
You meet somebody with potential?
Find out what they need.
You discover a problem?
Start connecting people who might be able to solve it.
And if somebody figures out a better way to do things, fantastic!
Teach the rest of us!
Because this isn’t about me.
And it certainly isn’t about creating another empire.
It’s about creating possibilities.
Now, I understand that charitable organizations need financial accountability and legal oversight. That’s fine.
But accountability doesn’t require a bureaucracy the size of the Pentagon.
And the foundation isn’t a political campaign. Its purpose is charitable: helping people develop their potential and helping communities create opportunities.
The political implications are something for citizens themselves to decide.
But here’s what really gets me excited.
Imagine a thousand people across North Carolina doing what I’ve been doing.
Not campaigning.
Not selling anything.
Just talking to people, listening, identifying possibilities, and helping turn good ideas into reality.
And then imagine those thousand people inspiring another thousand.
You begin to see how something like this could grow without building some enormous centralized institution.
The process spreads because people find it useful.
And the beauty of it is that nobody needs to wait for me.
Nobody needs to ask my permission.
Hell, somebody might take the idea and do it ten times better than I ever could.
I hope they do!
Because that’s the whole point.
Now, I don’t know Elon Musk personally.
And I can’t tell you what he was thinking when he wrote those enormous checks.
But his spending raises a question that I think is worth asking.
Are we investing too much money in trying to influence people and too little in trying to understand them?
Because those are two very different things.
And I wonder what American politics—and American communities—might look like if we spent more time listening.
Not just during election season.
Every day.
You know, I’ve spent a good part of my life thinking that if I could just accumulate enough money, I’d be able to do anything I wanted.
And money certainly creates opportunities.
But these last several months have taught me something I didn’t fully appreciate before.
Some of the most valuable experiences I’ve ever had haven’t cost me a nickel.
They’ve come from conversations.
From meeting strangers.
From discovering something unexpected about another human being.
From opening a door and having absolutely no idea what’s on the other side.
And that’s what I want to share.
Not a political ideology.
Not a complicated organizational structure.
Just a process that encourages people to become curious about one another and then do something useful with what they discover.
So, Mr. Musk, if you’re listening, I’ve got a proposition.
You keep building the rockets.
I’ll keep talking to strangers.
And maybe someday we can compare notes.
Because you’ve spent nearly $500 million trying to influence what people do.
And I’ve discovered that sometimes, if you just ask somebody a question, they’ll tell you something worth knowing.
And it doesn’t cost a damn thing.
My name is John Eagleton.
I’m the founder of the Eagle Crown Foundation.
And I’m trying to prove that extraordinary things can happen when ordinary people start talking to one another.
Participation creates possibilities.
But first, we have to listen.
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