Recode writes about Silicon Valley's potential to work with the U.S. Government by presenting a third-party alternative in the 2016 Presidential election.
Could a Mark Zuckerberg-Sheryl Sandberg ticket win the presidency? Is America clamoring for a president who will expand the drone assassination program? What about a government-sponsored app that’s like a Big Brothers/Big Sisters matchmaking service? And what if Michael Bloomberg funds a campaign that supports such initiatives?
According to Jim VandeHei, the recently departed CEO of Politico, the answer to all the above is a very loud “yes.” In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Monday night, VandeHei spells out what he believes is the winning strategy for a third-party candidate in 2016. Realistically, however, almost none of what he says could come to pass.
VandeHei thinks that “Normal America is right that Establishment America has grown fat, lazy, conventional and deserving of radical disruption,” which is why voters have turned out in droves for candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. The problem, as he sees it, is that Trump’s “vulgar approach to politics” and Sanders’s socialism disqualify them from pursuing that disruption. The solution? Find a third-party candidate who can channel the electorate’s anger at Washington. Such a candidate must:
Come “from outside the political system” and “[engage] voters daily on social media, with fun and flair.”
Exploit the “fear factor” in America and come “from the military” or tap someone “with modern-warfare expertise or experience” as his or her running mate
Channel “the internet revolution for the greater good” and create a “National App” that connects young people with mentors, or perhaps veterans with potential employers