Guest Author
If you watched Saturday’s Republican debate in South Carolina, you may have walked away shaking your head, wondering if there were any really truly qualified GOP candidates running for president.
Or any decent candidates for president, period.
Viewers were treated for the most part to infantile behavior and/or the same old shallow “conservative” talking points from the candidates. Polling leader Donald Trump by far displayed his very unpresidential demeanor by continuously accusing a likewise disappointing Jeb Bush and others of being serial liars.
But the Democrats are no better. There’s a choice right now between the tired, loosey-goosey emailing Hillary Clinton who, according to Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright, is running on an anti-penis platform and an antiquated Socialist/Marxist/Liberal/Leftist Bernie Sanders, who suddenly has become a viable candidate.
Discouraging and very troubling, to say the least.
Both the GOP and the Democrats are sadly parties of the extremes. As a result, after only the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, the race for president has devolved into a childish, and dangerously dysfunctional, battle of egos and antiquated ideals.
So when billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he is considering an independent run for president, both parties should be worried.
Despite his unpopular stances among conservatives on gun control and large cups of Coca Cola, Bloomberg brings much to the table. He looks like the grown-up in the room.
He has a great record of success. None of the candidates, except for maybe Ohio Gov. John Kasich, really have displayed the maturity and governing background from both an economic and foreign affairs point of view that Bloomberg brings to the table.
Bloomberg not only helped NYC evolve as the premier commercial and cultural city in the world, but he also kept the city free from terrorist attack and high crime. Also, as any mayor of NYC, he had a good deal of foreign affairs to deal with.
He has the tools and experience to be president.
By entering the race, Bloomberg would change the dynamics of the 2016 contest.
But based on historical precedent, he doesn’t have a shot of winning. It has to be more than just a candidacy for president to be successful.
He must use his candidacy to create a new political party to replace our failed two-party system.
The two-party system is basically dead. With the election of President Barack Obama as a cult figure and the rising power of Super PACs, Washington lobbyists, Hollywood and Wall Street, both the Democratic and Republican parties have lost their hold on the political process. They have failed to produce seasoned, qualified candidates at all levels of governance.
Both Trump and Sanders are serious frontrunners because, whether you are on the left, the middle, or the right, there’s great dissatisfaction with the American political class.
This dissatisfaction presents a great opportunity to Bloomberg to change American politics by growing a common-sense Independence Party.
Americans are hungry for change, and would welcome not only a Bloomberg candidacy, but a new political party embracing a new ideal of unity and effectiveness in politics.
The time is ripe. Bloomberg, if he decides to run for president, should go the historic extra step to form a serious national political movement to evolve American politics into a governing and uniting institution that serves the wants and needs of 21st Century voters in the United States.
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Steven Kurlander blogs at Kurly’s Kommentary (stevenkurlander.com) and writes for Context Florida and The Huffington Post and can be found on Twitter @Kurlykomments. He lives in Monticello, New York. Column courtesy of Context Florida.
