Why Americans would happily vote a tech billionaire into the White House

Zuckerberg 2020?

Americans are proving they aren't limited to voting for politicians.
(Image credit: Paul Morigi/AP Images for 1,000 Days)

Democrats obsess about extreme income and wealth inequality. Yet according to hacked emails, Team Clinton considered some of the richest Americans as possible Hillary running mates, including technology billionaires Bill Gates of Microsoft and Apple's Tim Cook. That's right: The political party obsessed with the "1 percent" gave at least some thought to putting the wealthiest man on the planet, Gates, on its presidential ticket and potentially a heartbeat away from the presidency itself. What percent is one divided by seven billion?

Still, it's easy to see why Gates would make the "first cut." The Microsoft cofounder and philanthropist is one of the most popular Americans, both here and globally. Indeed, we seem to view getting rich by creating apps and gadgets we use and love a lot differently than making the Forbes 400 list by running a hedge fund or inheriting some old-money fortune. Tech culture has also become mainstream culture with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg the super celebrities of modern America.

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James Pethokoukis

James Pethokoukis is the DeWitt Wallace Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he runs the AEIdeas blog. He has also written for The New York Times, National Review, Commentary, The Weekly Standard, and other places.