[THREAD] @Alice_zag, @daedalium and I founded @_TheFamily to pursue a simple mission: provide French (now European) entrepreneurs will all the resources they need to overcome the many obstacles they encounter while trying to build great tech companies. 
Advancing the cause of tech startups in Europe requires building a healthy ecosystem, a key part of which is to garner support (or at least not too much hostility) within government circles, academia, and the corporate world. cc @tfadell salon.thefamily.co/5-steps-to-a-h…
The problem with the current "Tech Backlash" is that it provides those who hate tech with too much ammunition. It's hard enough to convince non-tech leaders that technology is about making the world better. In the current context, it has become near impossible.
In that regard, the interests of European startups and the US tech industry are aligned. It's mostly because of US tech giants that technology inspires fear and anger in Europe. But the ones who pay the price are the local entrepreneurs, who find it harder to grow their business.
To reverse the trend, I think that large US tech companies should start working on building institutions that make the digital economy more sustainable and inclusive. It goes against the idea that corporations are only here to make profits. But there are historical precedents.
A famous precedent is when US capital-intensive industries and financiers made an alliance with labor to provide support for FDR's New Deal from 1935 onward—in exchange for free trade. See Thomas Ferguson and Joel Rogers's "Right Turn" => 
As for the current techno-economic paradigm, the same kind of alliance between corporations and progressive politicians almost succeeded during @BarackObama's second term, with Silicon Valley throwing its full support behind Obama's agenda following the 2012 campaign.
Until then, the Democratic party had relied on alliances that were not about imagining a new social compact. They forged a bond with labor to perpetuate the New Deal (until LBJ's presidency), then with Hollywood and Wall Street simply because they needed the money.
What changed between 2008 and 2012? The crisis happened. It created major problems for Democrats, because they had to turn against Wall Street, one of their core constituencies. Fortunately, Silicon Valley took over. They already had a bond with Obama following the 2008 campaign.
And they ultimately brought a lot to the table: skills to win electoral campaigns, the power of major consumer brands, talent to turn the government into a platform (cc @timoreilly @pahlkadot), the idea of building a better future...and a tremendous lot of money!
In exchange, Obama’s second term was a boon for Silicon Valley. Large tech companies stood to gain from free trade. There was also widespread government support to hedge entrepreneurs and investors when wandering in unknown territories such as solar power and the electric car.
Even the Affordable Care Act, the signature legislation of the Obama era, had a positive impact on Silicon Valley. Alas only @travisk, then CEO of Uber, once voiced what others tech leaders ultimately chose to keep for themselves. statnews.com/2017/07/20/ube…
Past Obama’s reelection, you could be forgiven for thinking that Democrats were about to tighten their grip on US politics for several more decades. Hillary Clinton was about to cement Obama’s legacy—just as Harry Truman with the New Deal. nymag.com/daily/intellig… @jonathanchait
But something went wrong along the way. A worrying signal had already been here since at least 2010: Democrats controlled the White House, but they were at their weakest in every other part of the complex US political system. vox.com/the-big-idea/2…
Of course, tech executives overwhelmingly endorsed Hillary Clinton for the presidency. But Obama’s successor as the Democratic nominee was of a different era: the time when it was enough to compromise on a centrist agenda and court big corporate donors. salon.thefamily.co/software-eatin…
Meanwhile, a former TV reality star got to realize that voters had had enough. American voters supported Trump for the same reason that they had elected Obama: now technology made it possible for them to make their voice heard and go around big donors. newrepublic.com/article/135151…
And as for Silicon Valley, it has lost almost everything in the process: its unexpected role in Trump's election makes it an enemy for Democrats and the rest of the world; its progressivism makes it an enemy for Republicans. And so the "Tech Backlash" is not about to calm down.
China is clearly the main winner here. The losers are entrepreneurs in other parts of the world, who are now paying for Silicon Valley's sins and are encountering even more obstacles as a result. Can tech executives please wake up and set about reconquering before it's too late?
