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Michael Bloomberg is very liberal, and he avidly supported Obama in the 2012 Presidential election.
I doubt many liberals would consider Michael Bloomberg one of them. He was very critical of Occupy Wall Street, not just their tactics but their message, not surprising considering his background. On foreign policy, he tended to criticize Democrats calls for Iraq withdrawal at the end of the Bush administration. Also, unsympathetic to critics of police of "stop and frisk". He didn't support Obama until a couple weeks before the election.
Either way, he's not really a conservative, but "very liberal" is a misnomer. Also depends on how much weight you place on economic issues rather social issues. On national level, I suspect he wouldn't fit within liberals on economic issues, and probably closer to the Republican Party. But local elections aren't on the same issues. A lot of issues aren't ideological and some are based on just management, which in general he seemed to do well at. If I lived in New York City, I'd be willing to consider voting for Bloomberg but wouldn't in a federal election. And some urban planning issues (planning more pedestrians, bicycles and transit rather than cars) Bloomberg came closer to my views than other candidates did. Rather the opposite of Bob Ford in Toronto. In the last mayoral election, there was a strong racial divide, with whites who typically vote Democrat voting for Bloomberg while minorities tended to vote for the Democratic candidate in the election.
Just the prior year, during the Watergate mess, people from MA were driving around with these bumper stickers that said "Don't blame me, I'm from Massachusetts" (the only state Nixon lost), pointing their fingers at the rest of us lowlifes. Then busing came to their home, and everything was "different". I know we've discussed this before, and a rehash is not necessary, just saying, some people don't know how to "walk the walk" even if they "talk the talk".
I think that goes under the "exposure to diversity makes one less tolerant category". I thought that bumper sticker was rather cute, but anyhow you can't judge a whole state by one neighborhood. Many of the people involved many have been Nixon voters or if not voted for McGovern because they agreed with other parts of the platform.
I know in New York City, much of the local population was strongly supportive of the civil rights movement but became less so after lots of the black population moved in. Chicago was racist before and after:
Bloomberg was on tv this morning calling for tighter regulations on guns. Bloomberg is less of a liberal on economics, more of a social liberal.
The MOST LIBERAL of people may not consider him card carrying, but again it is about placement on a spectrum.
My position on not outlawing fracking might disqualify me from being a card carrying liberal, nonetheless my prevailing social political tendency is liberal or libertarian. Not being 100% liberal doesn't mean the overall social lean isn't liberal.
I think that goes under the "exposure to diversity makes one less tolerant category". I thought that bumper sticker was rather cute, but anyhow you can't judge a whole state by one neighborhood. Many of the people involved many have been Nixon voters or if not voted for McGovern because they agreed with other parts of the platform.
I know in New York City, much of the local population was strongly supportive of the civil rights movement but became less so after lots of the black population moved in. Chicago was racist before and after:
Enough that Wilson thought the whites were at fault. Richard Daley was a participant.
Re: the bold, I agree. At first there were these bumper stickers that said, "Don't blame me, I voted for McGovern", but they evolved into the other. People from MA just thought they were being so funny, poking fingers at the rest of us (and I did vote for McGovern). I'm just saying, you have to walk the walk.
Bloomberg was on tv this morning calling for tighter regulations on guns. Bloomberg is less of a liberal on economics, more of a social liberal.
The MOST LIBERAL of people may not consider him card carrying, but again it is about placement on a spectrum.
My position on not outlawing fracking might disqualify me from being a card carrying liberal, nonetheless my prevailing social political tendency is liberal or libertarian. Not being 100% liberal doesn't mean the overall social lean isn't liberal.
Well yes, on social issues he's little different from most liberals. Social issues aren't the only issues, and liberal in my mind implies certain economic views.
As for gun control, few big city mayors are opposed. There isn't much of a gun culture, many aren't used to guns,
At first there were these bumper stickers that said, "Don't blame me, I voted for McGovern", but they evolved into the other. People from MA just thought they were being so funny, poking fingers at the rest of us (and I did vote for McGovern).
Local political pride. I can't find what's wrong with it. If I voted for McGovern back then, I would have put it on my car. There was an anti-Nixon political poster for sale in a local antique store, I was tempted to buy it.
Chicago is a city that offered blacks economic opportunity in HUGE amounts around the '50s and '60s and of course does today too. Chicago was where blacks could get ahead at a time when they couldn't in many other places. The urban environment has historically been the predominant vehicle for prosperity reaching out to diversity, Chicago being one of the most urban environments in the USA.
Local political pride. I can't find what's wrong with it. If I voted for McGovern back then, I would have put it on my car. There was an anti-Nixon political poster for sale in a local antique store, I was tempted to buy it.
Well, a lot of them voted for Nixon, or they would have had the "Don't blame me I voted for McGovern" stickers on their cars. There's nothing wrong with any of it; it's just ironic that a year later some of the same people were protesting and rioting against school integration.
Well yes, on social issues he's little different from most liberals. Social issues aren't the only issues, and liberal in my mind implies certain economic views.
The problem with that rationale is that often people reach their social political philosophy and economic political philosophy independently. That is to say there are plenty of social liberals or libertarians who are fiscally conservative. And interestingly enough, amongst conservative circles in the Republican Party today, even being fiscally conservative and socially moderate will get you considered a liberal. For all of Romneys talk about being severely conservative, many in the party call him liberal. Interesting how card carrying liberals will consider a social moderate a moderate but card carrying conservatives often consider a social moderate a liberal.
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