First of all I want to state that this is not an endorsement of Michael Bloomberg or Tom Steyer. I just want to point out that being rich should not be a disqualifying factor in running for President.
Sure there are rich people who use their wealth and power against the middle and lower financial class citizens and to buy influence over government policies. The Kochs, Waltons, and Adelsons of the world come to mind along with others.
However there have been many highly affluent individuals over the course of our history that have been very progressive and have done much in advancing social programs.
The Roosevelts were not a poor family. Teddy, a Republican, fought against monopolies and established the National Park Service to protect our lands from development from oil barons and other companies who wanted to plunder our natural resources. Franklin passed Social Security and other programs to help the poor during the period of the great depression.
The Kennedys, not a poor family, were instrumental in getting the Voting Rights Act, The Civil Rights act and Medicare passed into law. It took Lyndon Johnson, to bring them across the finish line, but the Kennedys pushed for it. John and Robert first and Ted Kennedy later on.
We have people like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and George Soros who contribute billions of dollars to causes like fighting AIDs, bringing water and other services to rural areas both here in America and overseas.
Bloomberg has put his money where is mouth is by waging a campaign against the NRA. Yes he is also responsible for Stop and Frisk which was a big mistake. But like the war in IRAQ there were a lot of Democrats who supported that in order to counter GOP claims of being soft on crime and soft on terrorism. Remember the Willie Horton attacks.
Unfortunately, we still live in a system where money equates to power. It is how that power is used that is important. The way the political landscape is now, it takes a lot of money to run for office, any office. That might not be right or what we want but we cannot change the rules until we win the game. Once we get control we can look at overturning Citizens United and putting progressive Justices and Judges back on the courts.
Yes, there are many fine candidates who are not from the uber rich class. They require a lot of us to contribute a lot of money. I have personally donated to several candidates in the Democratic Presidential field including Warren, Booker and Harris. With their tens of millions of small dollar contributors they still cannot compete with Steyer and Bloomberg when it comes to saturating the airwaves with their political messages.
I now live in North Carolina, which does not have an early primary, and I am seeing ads on TV from Bloomberg and Steyer all the time. I have not been solicited by either of their campaigns.
Think of it this way. If Bloomberg or Steyer were the nominee, the DNC would not have to funnel a lot of money to them in the General Election. Instead they could use those funds to finance Senatorial challenges against McConnell, Collins, Tillis, Gardner and others. It would be a financial boon to the DNC by having a candidate who can fund their own campaign.
I am not saying that being rich qualifies one to be President. After all, look at who we are stuck with now, What I am saying is that it should not be disqualifying either.