How to Hack a Party Line

Book excerpt: The gripping story of the emergence of a powerful new force in American politics Sara Miles's How to Hack the Party Line is the first book to explain the political significance of the high-technology industry, and to show the birth of a relationship between the new millionaires of the Information Age and power-hungry Washington insiders that will shape the politics of the twenty-first century. Packed with exclusive, behind-the-scenes reporting, How to Hack a Party Line chronicles a high-stakes experiment: the creation of Silicon Valley's first political machine. The book explores the often contradictory forces behind Silicon Valley's political awakening -- a mixture of naive libertarian sentiment, northern California social attitudes, aggressive business instincts, and a raw desire for power. Simultaneously it looks at centrist "new Democrats" who have left behind the labor coalitions of the industrial economy and are seeking a new identity in the values proclaimed by high-tech capitalists: growth, globalism, efficiency, and innovation. How to Hack the Party Line combines a colorful, character-rich narrative with serious reporting and political analysis. It asks what values prosper when high-tech business becomes the metaphor for society? And how, in the twenty-first century, will democracy respond?