Michael Bloomberg's Speech Could've Been a Gary Johnson Endorsement, if Bloomberg Weren't a Big Nanny Statist
Says Americans have to come together and embrace the freedoms the founding fathers established.
Former Republican/Independent New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg addressed the Democratic National Convention tonight, making the pitch for Hillary Clinton to independent voters.
"You know, when the founding fathers arrived here in Philadelphia to forge a new nation, they didn't come as Democrats or Republicans, or to nominate a presidential candidate," Bloomberg said. "They came as patriots who feared party politics, and I know how they felt."
They felt the same way an increasing number of Americans who don't affiliate with a major party do. Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton (and Michael Bloomberg and Donald Trump), a record-breaking number of independents say that government is too powerful.
Bloomberg admitted he has sometimes disagreed with Clinton, but no matter. "I've come here to say: We must put them aside for the good of our country," Bloomberg said. "And we must unite around the candidate who can defeat a dangerous demagogue."
For #NeverTrump Republicans, that candidate is slowly becoming Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson. But it's not an option for dyed-in-the-wool nanny stater Bloomberg.
"Today, as an independent, an entrepreneur, and a former mayor, I believe we need a president who is a problem-solver, not a bomb-thrower," Bloomberg said, "someone who can bring members of Congress together, to get big things done."
Yet "bipartisanship" has been the cause of many a disaster, including the drug war, farm subsidies, and interventionism. Bipartisanism is a dangerous ideology of its own. Bipartisanship has shaped the presidency into a dangerous tool for candidates like Trump and Clinton. The call for bipartisanship is one of the oldest, and most dishonest, cliches in U.S. politics.
After laying out a case against Donald Trump as businessmen (Bloomberg says he encourages business leaders to run for office), Bloomberg returned to appropriating the founders.
"We can only solve our biggest problems if we come together and embrace the freedoms that our Founding Fathers established right here in Philadelphia," said the man who is a leading advocate of stripping Americans of their right to self-defense, and blamed Republicans for "standing in the way of action" on gun violence in his speech. Those freedoms onto which Bloomberg imposes terms adn conditions, "permitted our ancestors to create the great American exceptionalism that all of us now enjoy."
As many of the anti-Clinton speeches last week and other anti-Trump speeches this week, the thrust of Bloomberg's argument is just as powerful a case for Gary Johnson.