Michael Bloomberg Should Have Never Been Allowed to Run This Campaign
Michael Bloomberg is spending orders of magnitude more on his presidential campaign than any other candidate in US history. The Left must push for campaign finance reforms that can stop billionaires like him from buying their way onto the political stage.
Democratic presidential candidate and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg arrives to the Democratic primary debate at the Paris Theater on February 19, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Bridget Bennett / AFP via Getty Images)
In a functional democracy, there would be no Bloomberg candidacy.
The legitimacy of a political figure would not derive from wealth. An individual so odiously problematic would not be able to hide his liabilities through sleek commercials and quirky social media videos. Unfortunately, his campaign is real and is being taken seriously.
Our campaign finance system was not supposed to be so broken. In 1974, prompted by the Watergate scandal, Congress passed the Federal Election Campaign Act. The law, among other things, put restrictions on political contributions, overall political spending, and how much one could self-fund. Simply put, under this law, “Bloomberg 2020” would not exist.
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.