When Silicon Valley becomes a Red State
Sunday, May 22, 2005 at 4:26PM ■"'New Democrat' Bloc Opposes Trade Pact: High-Tech Industry's Support at Risk," by Thomas Edsall, Washington Post, 21 May 2005, p. A4.
■"Immigration Emerges as Republican Divider: Bid to Overhaul Policy Pits Business and Hispanic Swing Voters Against Social Conservatives," by John Harwood, Wall Street Journal, 17 May 2005, p. A4.
The "New Dems" that rode the wave of globalization's rapid expansion with Bill Clinton in the 1990s apparently are turning tail on George Bush's efforts on the Central American Free Trade Agreement, something old Bill himself set in motion while still in officeóif I'm not mistaken.
It's this sort of protectionism that will sour the relationship between the traditionally liberal high-tech industry and the Dems, as leaders from Silicon Valley have already made clear in a letter to the New Democrat Coalition. The high-tech Dems were worth almost $30M to the party's coffers in 2004. What kept these business types in the Dem camp was the party's liberalism on social issues combined with a pro-free trade agenda under Clinton. If the Dems turn on trade, they will turn Silicon Valley into a Red State. Already the two parties pull about even amounts of money from the industry, so it won't take too much more to give it a decidedly red cast.
The silver lining on all of this for the Dems is that all that free trade and open borders really turns off a lot of social conservatives in the GOP, who can't stand the notion that America will keep getting browner over time.
Me, I want the free trade and I think getting more Hispanic is just fine. Too bad there's no party for people like me.
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