Friday, March 29, 2024
Miles from the Mainstream
D. R. ZUKERMAN, proprietor

A Letter from Mayor Bloomberg

MARCH 11, 2008 --

Recently, this writer sent  a note to Mayor Bloomberg that commented on the mayor's recent call for an independent approach to politics,  a call in which this writer sensed an echo of the call for "common good" politics stated in Federalist 57. Early this month, the mail brought a letter to this writer, addressed as "Dear Friend"  from Mayor Bloomberg, dated February 29, that included this paragraph:

"I believe the partisanship and special interest influence that dominate in Washington are blocking progress and holding this country back. If we're going to get serious about addressing education, poverty, the environment - or the host of other major challenges we face - we're going to have to take the best ideas from both sides and focus on results. I will continue speaking out for such an independent approach, and I hope you will do the same."

The news, lately, has reported still higher oil prices and sense of continued economic decline.  LPR has yet to hear any of the remaining candidates consider the possibility that extortionate credit card interest rates are contributing to the economic downturn.  

LPR applauds Mayor Bloomberg's recognition that a partisanship approach to public policy issues is holding back progress on working for the common good.

LPR quickly adds that it does not believe the solution to public policy issues comes from knee-jerk reaction to use of government power.   

Still, this should not keep government leaders from speaking out against ill-advised policies from any source in the nation that are harmful to the common good, that seem to advance nothing broader than the ambitious of the few at the expense of the many.

Mamma Mia

Mayor Bloomberg, speaking with reporters outside Yankee Stadium a few years ago.


Shortly after Mayor Bloomberg was elected to a second term, LPR predicted that he would run for president.

Apparently that notion was considered and then dropped.  LPR -- who, incidentally, remains a critic of the mayor's parking enforcement policies in New York City -- sees the mayor's call for "an independent approach" in our politics today as indication his views will indeed be heard on the position taken my the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees and their running mates.

Note from LPR:  

The letter from Mayor Bloomberg, quoted above, was written the day after his February 28 op-ed column in The New York Times.  

The op-ed column stated that partisanship takes "an easy way out" and special interests support the status quo.

The letter quoted here is somewhat more forceful on these points.  LPR, with the support of clicksters and the blogging community, will maintain the independent approach suggested by Federalist 57.