John Zipperer

Remember when President George H.W. Bush endorsed a Democrat for governor of Louisiana? That bipartisan act took place in 1991, when former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards ran a comeback race that pitted him against former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. Bush was only one of many Republicans and Democrats who endorsed Edwards, and they did so despite Edwards having a long history of alleged corruption (a popular bumper sticker of the time read “Vote For the Crook. It’s Important.”).

As we wave bye-bye to America’s 250th July Fourth, we should note that we’re in Year One of the country’s second 250 years. As bad as the country’s shape is today, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to . . . let’s say “make it better again.” That starts now. In the Bay Area, we have a double reason to double-down on democracy. San Francisco’s own founding — when it was established as a mission — was in 1776, making this also the 251st year of the city’s life.

The Bay Area’s ties to the tech industry go back a long way. But starting in the early 1990s, high tech began to spawn companies and disruptors and new tech moguls right here in San Francisco. The industry’s sometimes contentious relationship with San Francisco residents and its political class is told in the new book City on the Edge: Technology, Politics, and the Fight for the Soul of San Francisco, by Jonathan Weber.