Silicon Valley's unique politics explained, in 6 charts

[Commentary] Traditional Democrats tend to see the government as a protector from the whims of capitalism, while Silicon Valley (CA) liberals see the government as an investor. The government competitively funds citizens to solve problems in a way that an agency never could have imagined. This helps explain the Silicon Valley elites' obsession with charters: publicly funded, unionless, and highly experimental schools. This belief is closest to what political scientists call communitarianism, the theory that active communities can solve problems better than either the market or the government alone. For instance, a communitarian might choose a neighborhood watch over more police or a carpool system over public transit. In essence, it is a civil society completely oriented toward innovation. They don't see conflicts between citizens, the government, big corporations, or other countries -- just one big mass of people coming up with mutually beneficial solutions as fast as possible.

These utopian ideas are not entirely new. They've been around for a long time. But the economy is empowering these idealists like never before, and the Democratic Party is evidently the political vessel they've chosen to make it a reality. And given the amount of money they have to spend, and the kind of Democratic talent they are now buying, traditional Democrats may soon find themselves on the wrong side of the disruption.