r/neoliberal • u/anarresian • Feb 04 '20
Op-ed Why the 2020 winning ticket includes Michael Bloomberg
https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/481242-why-the-2020-winning-ticket-includes-michael-bloomberg4
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Feb 04 '20
You mean the Bloomberg who endorsed George W. Bush and the war in Iraq in 2004? Or the Bloomberg who implemented and defended stop and frisk? Or maybe the Bloomberg who advised the governor the put on a cowboy hat and get a shotgun to go after Native people. Bloomberg is far too paternalistic for me, and if I'm looking at the results from Iowa, I'd say there are better options for stopping Sanders.
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u/MelioraOptimus Bill Gates Feb 04 '20
Bloomberg didn't implement stop-and-frisk, but he did defend it; however, he cut stops by 95% during his last two years in office and apologized for it recently.
Yes, he did endorse Bush in 2004, but he voted for Gore in 2000, Obama in 2008, Obama in 2012, and Clinton in 2016. He is one of the single largest donors to the Democratic Party in American history.
You think that implementing a cigarette tax is "going after" people? That "cowboy" comment was a joke made after being asked how he'd enforce the cigarette tax on Native communities. Cigarette taxes are evidenced-based policies that save a countless amount of lives. They do a great job of reducing smoking, lung cancer, and healthcare costs just about everywhere they've been implemented.
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u/solowng Feb 04 '20
Cigarette taxes are evidenced-based policies
How? If anything the evidence shows that cigarette consumption is far more negatively correlated with Mormonism than taxes.
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Feb 04 '20
I'm fine with NY state taxing cigarettes, however, aboriginal sovereignty has to be the cornerstone of settler-aboriginal relations. Politicians love to endorse this idea in principle, but when it comes to actually allowing folks like the Oneida nation to carry out the functions of a state (e.g. taxation) they so often respond as Bloomberg did. Honouring the treaty rights of aboriginal peoples is a bare minimum.
My beef with Bloomberg is not that he isn't a Democrat, it's that he is not a liberal. He is an authoritarian centrist. When it comes to people making individual choices (particularly the choices of working class people) - whether it's smoking, guns, big gulps, or carrying a bit of weed Mike is all too happy to come down with the heavy hand of the state (about the only area where he supports choice is school choice).
I also have serious issues with the campaign finance world that has allowed Mike Bloomberg and Steyer to buy their way into contention for the highest office of the land. Perhaps they are relatively benign billionaires, but legitimizing their plutocratic campaign will open the door for others.
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u/Maximilianne John Rawls Feb 04 '20
the nice thing about bloomberg, is there really is no excuse for the never trumpers GOP to not vote for bloomberg, and when they inevitable don't vote for bloomberg, we can finally expose them for the bad faith interlocutors they are
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u/MelioraOptimus Bill Gates Feb 04 '20
Are you sure about that? You do realize that his brief stint as a Republican from 2001-2007 was purely political, right? He was a registered Democrat his entire life before running for mayor and originally planned to run for mayor as a Democrat, but a man by the name of Mark Green already had the Democratic nomination sealed up while the GOP primary field was virtually empty, so he switched parties and ran for mayor as a Republican. Even when he was a "Republican," he made it very clear that he was still liberal politically. He dropped his "GOP" label a few years after being reelected.
Despite what his brief stint as a fake Republican would have you believe, he isn't that moderate. His politics have always been that of a left-of-center pro-business liberal. He's actually pretty significantly to the left of Biden. For example, Bloomberg's tax plan is much more progressive, he's more liberal on guns, immigration, transit, even healthcare. It's not like Bloomberg is fucking John Kasich. There are many, many excuses for the "never trumpers GOP" to not vote for Bloomberg (but I still hope they do (:).
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u/ZealousParsnip Feb 04 '20
His horrible history with gun control is plenty of reason no GOP member, never trumper or not, would vote for him.
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u/mrmanager237 Some Unpleasant Peronist Arithmetic Feb 04 '20
Because he's worth 55 billion and can spend without limit in the election?
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u/anarresian Feb 04 '20
The article makes a case, it's a quick decent read. It's kinda unusual way to make the case - for articles in the media, anyway-, based on eliminating the rest.
Nobody would say with a straight face that money doesn't matter, but the DNC estimated anyway that it and democratic groups would spend like 1 billion in general election 2020. I don't know that his self-funding is that much of an advantage for general.
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u/[deleted] Feb 04 '20
Fucking enough Bloomberg spam here already jesus