In an appearance in San Francisco yesterday, Jeb Bush said the U.S. government should be more like a tech company.
Gov. Jeb Bush takes questions from reporters outside Thumbtack headquarters in San Francisco.
Caroline O'Donovan / BuzzFeed
Millions of people use Uber every day. Very few of them likely ask themselves whether the service is Democrat or Republican. The same goes for the millions of workers who pick up paying gigs on Taskrabbit or Lyft or Handy or Instacart. Until now, these platforms have been without politics. That's rapidly changing.
On Thursday, Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, became the latest presidential candidate to cruise through San Francisco, addressing the tech industry and arguing that fewer rules and regulations would increase productivity and innovation, thereby driving growth in the American economy. Standing next to a cooler full of standard startup fuel (yogurt, seltzer, beer), he held a town hall for employees of Thumbtack — a Google Ventures-backed startup that connects photographers and handymen with people who want to hire them — plus a sizable scrum of reporters. Sporting khakis, a blue blazer, and an open collar, he jokingly warned the young engineers, marketers, and designers before him not to get too caught up in campaign season. "There's like 65 people running," Bush joked. "If they all show up, you won't be working much."
Jeb Bush fields questions from Thumbtack employees.
Caroline O'Donovan / BuzzFeed
Indeed, whether they like it or not, electoral politics have been thrust upon Silicon Valley's engineers, marketers, and designers — the people at Thumbtack, and people like them. They — and their industry, and the products they make — have become avatars in a proxy battle between Democrats and Republicans over economics, regulation, innovation, and labor. Over the last several months, Democrats Mark Warner, Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton, and, now, Bush, have each publicly addressed the on-demand economy; as 2016 approaches, it has become clear that tech — and in particular the issue of how companies like Airbnb and Uber should be regulated — is going to be play out on a national stage.
Bush appeared partially as a response to Clinton's remarks, which were delivered during a speech on economic issues and were quickly framed as the candidate "blasting" on-demand business models pioneered by companies like Uber (a framing Clinton's camp rejected). Bush actually rode in an Uber car to and from the San Francisco event, in a literal display of his support for creative business models and that Silicon Valley elixir, "innovation."
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