Elizabeth Warren, a millionaire who lied about being a Native American before making a fortune off foreclosed homes during the 2008 real estate crash, really really really wants Silicon Valley to vote Republican.
For years Silicon Valley, like most places in California, has been historically blue. The region in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area serves as a global center for high technology, and has had a friendly relationship with the Democrat party for years.
But Elizabeth Warren, a huge fan of anti-trust laws, thinks companies like Amazon, Facebook and Google are monopolies which need to be broken up.
Monopolies, you say? One has to wonder, what part of Amazon's "monopoly" bothers Warren the most? Is it the low prices they offer? Or the free next-day delivery? Or maybe it's the massive selection?
At any rate, she's determined to break up these companies if she ever becomes President.
She's so focused on breaking up Big Tech giants that she even purchased ads on Facebook to tell Facebook users she thinks the social media platform needs to be broken up into smaller companies. But Facebook wasn't amused. Three Facebook ads from Warren's campaign calling for their own breakup were briefly pulled and then restored Monday evening by the site's administrators. The ad highlighted Warren's recent proposal to break up "anti-competitive" mergers, like Facebook's ownership of WhatsApp and Instagram.
There was obviously some backlash from Warren's supporters, which explains why the ads were restored, because Warren's desire to split up tech giants like Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple are very sincere.
And that's why Warren might just end up flipping Silicon Valley red. It's hard to imagine these millionaire and billionaire tech moguls are going to sit idly by while Warren destroys what they built. Warren's rhetoric won't represent a popular policy position with anyone who's spent enough time working in Silicon Valley to see one of their business investments blossom and grow.
In other words, in 2020 we might just see Silicon Valley vote Republican. Then again, maybe not. Trump has also threatened to go after companies like Amazon. To fiscal conservatives and small government advocates, we're a long ways away from Reagan's Republican party. In other words, if Trump wants Silicon Valley to support Republicans, he's gonna have to support Silicon Valley. The ball is currently in his court, figuratively speaking.
But to anyone who happens to agree Warren, consider this: once upon a time the Sears company was also considered to be a "monopoly". They sold mail-order clothes, gadgets and tools. They even sold houses. They also owned radio stations to promote their products to millions of listeners and the largest mail-order catalog service in the world to facilitate consumer's needs.
But today Sears is pretty much irrelevant. As time passed, so to did the world, and Sears couldn't keep up with the changing of the business landscape. Last year we saw Sears department stores close all over America. Pretty soon they'll be as common as Blockbuster Video stores. Believe it or not, this too is Amazon's future. Nothing lasts forever. Eventually Jeff Bezos will retire and be replaced by a less determined and cunning executive. This is simply the way of the world.
But in the meantime, Silicon Valley will keep their eye on anti-trust advocates like Warren (and Trump) who keep pushing for government solutions to problems that don't really exist. Because after all, if you don't like Amazon and Facebook you don't have to give them your money (or data). Most educated consumers already know about this universal truth.
Let's hope the politicians who seek to lead us get the message.