Elon Musk Is Colonizing Earth -- By Amy Gamerman, New York Times [View all]

... In this town,, almost every communal space is private property. A company controlled by the world’s richest man owns nearly all of it. He shapes its future.

This is Starbase, Texas, the city that Elon Musk built on America’s ragged hem at the southern border as the home for SpaceX, his aerospace and artificial intelligence company. Locals describe a highly secretive environment overseen by a company-affiliated city commission that rubber-stamps Mr. Musk’s vision, a place where even kindergartners are guided by his philosophies. Starbase is the newest manifestation of Mr. Musk’s political power. It is a beta test for a rising oligarchy that seems intent on transforming America from the inside out.
Soon, there may be more spaceport cities just like it, thanks to the huge infusion of cash that will flood SpaceX’s coffers when it makes its debut as a publicly traded company on Friday...

... One new Texas law makes interfering with Starbase’s operations potentially punishable with jail time. Another allows the company to shut down the beach and the highway into town at the mayor’s discretion. Another shields SpaceX, and by extension Starbase, from lawsuits by neighbors over nuisance caused by its rockets. The laws are so protective of Starbase that critics fear they could be wielded to criminalize any protests near it. (Louisiana lawmakers just enacted a package of similar aerospace incentives and tax breaks in a charm offensive aimed at Mr. Musk.)...

There are a handful of non-SpaceX employees, including Mr. Pompa, who cling to their homes inside Starbase but outside the village. One longtime resident described how SpaceX bulldozers and heavy machinery have torn up the road to his home and made it hard to get to his property. But he hasn’t complained to the city. SpaceX’s people are in control, he said. If he speaks out against SpaceX, he fears the city could pass an ordinance that would create havoc for him. It’s like living in a dictatorship, he said. (SpaceX and Starbase’s city commission did not respond to requests for comment.)....

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/opinion/elon-musk-spacex-starbase-texas.html?unlocked_article_code=1.plA.xLPm.ZQbyuiy-XZPC&smid=url-share

Knowing Musk, Gamerman makes a good case and projection about his corporate, proprietary vision. Just seeing the photos reveals how ugly that vision could be, at scale. Of course, any scaled up version of Musk's projects are death for democracy; and for decades before Citizens United, the militarized corporate world has paved the way. This is one terrible, horrible revelation that Americans of any demographic need to know. It would be a perilous mistake to believe that Musk's colonies would end, if they end at all, the way Ford's Fordlandia did.