Power Trip
Can the Tech Industry Do What the Dems Can’t?
Democrats are notoriously bad at turning out for midterm elections. Silicon Valley is directing money and muscle to finding solutions outside the party structure.
Understanding the roots of the progressive tech wave that’s risen since 2016 requires looking back more than two years, before the election of Donald Trump, to when the Silicon Valley types first started arriving in Washington, D.C., in droves.
After the disastrous launch of Healthcare.gov, the Obama administration hired former Google engineer Mikey Dickerson to modernize government from the inside. Dickerson’s credentials were sound. The only question was how he and his ilk would assimilate to life in Washington, D.C. In other words, whether they’d wear suits and ties.
‘Is this the same old business as usual or are they actually going to listen?’
Dickerson made the concession of wearing button-down shirts instead of T-shirts, he said in a 2014 White House video announcing the formation of the U.S. Digital Service, a sort of proactive “Geek Squad” for the government. He added that for all of his Silicon Valley friends decamping to…
