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How to Hack a Party Line

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How to Hack a Party Line

The Democrats and Silicon Valley

FSG,

15 min read
10 take-aways
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What's inside?

We bet you think Silicon Valley is about high tech. Wrong, it’s about politics, power and money (just like everywhere else).

Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

Sara Miles unfolds a political saga as if it were a gripping novel. The story begins with political activist Wade Randlett, who forged a coalition of Silicon Valley’s leading tech CEOs and venture capitalists to support the New Democrats. Miles starts with Randlett’s arrival in the Valley. She shows how, in 1996, Randlett lined up Bill Clinton’s opposition to Proposition 211 (allowing uncapped suits against high-tech companies), helping to swing many apolitical or Republican tech leaders to the New Democrats. Miles traces the Valley’s growing relationship with Clinton, Gore and other New Dems, which held up until the rise of George W. Bush. Miles’ fascinating story may seem like ancient history (though it’s only 1996 to 2000) now that the dot-com storms have diluted the New Economy’s power. Otherwise, getAbstract strongly recommends this intriguing look at a particular patch of political history, when the New Economy was strong, and everybody wanted to be a friend of the Valley.

Summary

The Silicon Valley Political Machine

In 1996, the Silicon Valley phenomena was just emerging into national awareness and the high-tech community did not have a political presence, much less a political machine. Ward Randlett, a 20-something, independent fund-raiser and political consultant, had been working out of San Jose, hustling funds for major Democratic Party figures, such as Dianne Feinstein, John Garamendi and Art Torres. Randlett had gained a great skill in campaign fund-raising, getting even strangers to write large checks. Now he thought he had a good chance to build Silicon Valley’s first political machine.

Upon analysis, Randlett also believed that the Democrats would be more successful in California if they moved toward the center, since voters had become more centrist in the mid-1990s, rather than liberal or very right wing. He thought he saw a good fit between the Valley’s ethos and the ideals of the New Democrats, who were drawn more to business than the traditional labor and minority supporters of liberalism.

Randlett began campaigning to link Washington and Silicon Valley at the time when breakthroughs in microprocessors and personal computers...

About the Author

Sara Miles  has covered the politics of Silicon Valley for The New York Times Magazine, Wired and Wired News. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including The New Yorker, The New York Times, Mother Jones and Out Magazine.

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