Dear Mr. President,
The genius of an America First second Trump term will be creating an atmosphere and mindset for imaginative sustainability that will power the American spirit over the next 100 months. One of your audacious goals should be to unlock innovation to establish a more sustainable path using data-driven, evidence-based research to rescue Social Security and Medicare.
I have read that you plan to appoint Elon Musk to lead a government efficiency commission and that you will create a task force to conduct a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government.
It is a brilliant idea to include Elon Musk in your administration. However, I would humbly suggest that he not be appointed as a cost-cutting czar or chief auditor. Those roles are best suited for accountants or “bean counters,” of which you have plenty. May I offer an alternative suggestion? Why not appoint Musk as the czar for sustainable, imaginative innovation?
Why the czar for “sustainable, imaginative” innovation and not just the czar for innovation? This role addresses human biases that limit progress. There is often a lack of capacity for both initial and follow-on imagination. Musk has that in buckets.
An example of limited initial imagination was the failure to foresee why and how to get to the moon, which impeded the American space program and fueled the Soviet space program during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It wasn’t until President John F. Kennedy challenged the country to put a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth by the end of the decade that we accomplished this historic feat in 1969.
What moonshots have we achieved since then? Once we reached the moon and returned safely, what have we done since? This collective failure of American imagination has led us to overlook the manned space race with China and other countries, the potential militarization of space, and the industrialization and colonization of the moon and Mars. Why did we retire the Space Shuttle, one of the greatest examples of American imagination and innovation in the 20th century? I still can't figure that one out.
I recently read a passage in a book by one of your aides recounting how you challenged the NASA administrator to reach Mars by the end of this decade. The administrator responded that it couldn't be done, even though you offered full funding. His response, claiming it was unachievable within your term, reflected a bureaucratic mindset—not one of imaginative sustainability.
Cost-cutting is not inspirational. Moonshots are inspirational. Musk, a modern-day Thomas Edison who brought us Tesla, SpaceX, and Starlink, should be the czar for moonshots or perhaps even Mars shots—not for bean counting.
With respect,
David J. Byrd
Founder/CEO
Byrd's Eye, LLC
"We See Opportunity Where Others Do Not"
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David Byrd served as the 18th National Director of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) located within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Earlier in his career he worked with homeless families and individuals and incarcerated youth as a Certified Life Skills Coach.
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