布隆伯格麻省理工学院2019年毕业典礼演讲（竞选总统宣言）

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Address by Michael Bloomberg at MIT Commencement 2019

June 7, 2019

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Well, good morning, everyone.

Bob, thank you for that nice introduction. And hello, graduates and fellow engineers.

As the chairman said, I majored in electrical engineering. So I know what you’re all thinking – it’s a shame he was never able to put his degree to good use. I thought that was funnier than you did, thank you. 

Let me start with the most important message that I can deliver today – congratulations to the distinguished graduates of the great Class of 2019. You made it. All those long hours studying, and in the lab, the quizzes, the papers, and the swim tests, it was all for today – well, that and the brass rat.

Even though I went to a school up the river, for today’s address, I wanted to feel what it was like to be a student here at MIT. So on my way over here, I walked through the Infinite Corridor and elbowed my way through 100 tourists. Did they know that Matt Damon doesn’t actually work here as a janitor, right?

Last night, I also paid a visit to one of this university’s most iconic places – the Muddy. I told the graduates there that I had some good news and some bad news. The bad news was I won’t be repaying your entire classes student loans. Sorry. But I told them the good news was I would be picking up the tab for the next round of drinks. That seemed to help matters.

As excited as all you are today, there’s another group here that is beaming with pride and that deserves a big round of applause – your parents and your families. Some of them are sitting out there thinking, our kids are getting a degree from the world’s most prestigious engineering school, and yet when they come home, they don’t seem to know how to use the washer/dryer?

You’ve been very lucky, seriously, to study at a place that attracts some of the brightest minds in the world. And during your time here, MIT has extended his tradition of groundbreaking research and innovation. Most of you were here when LIGO proved that Einstein was right about gravitational waves, something that I – as a Johns Hopkins engineering graduate – claimed all along.

And just this spring, MIT scientists and astronomers helped to capture the first-ever image of a black hole. 

Those really are incredible accomplishments at MIT. And they are especially incredible when you consider that the Wi-Fi barely works here.

For God’s sakes, how many PhDs did it take to plug in a router?

But really, all of you are a part of an amazing institution that has proven – time and time again – that human knowledge and achievement is limitless. In fact, this is the place that proved moonshots are worth taking. 

50 years ago this month – or next month, I guess it is – the Apollo 11 lunar module touched down on the moon. It’s fair to say the crew never would have gotten there without MIT. And I don’t just mean that because Buzz Aldrin was class of ‘63 here, and took Richard Battin’s famous astrodynamics course. As Chairman Millard mentioned, the Apollo 11 literally got there thanks to its navigation and control systems that were designed right here at what is now the Draper Laboratory.

Successfully putting a man on the moon required solving so many complex problems. How to physically guide a spacecraft on a half-million-mile journey was arguably the biggest one, and your fellow alums and professors solved it by building a one-cubic-foot computer at the time when computers were giant machines that filled whole rooms.

The only reason those MIT engineers even tried to build that computer in the first place was that they had been asked to help do something that people thought was either impossible or unnecessary.

Going to the moon was not a popular idea back in the 1960s. And Congress didn’t want to pay for it. Imagine that – a Congress that didn’t want to invest in science. Go figure – that would never happen today.

President Kennedy needed to persuade the taxpayers that a manned mission to the moon was possible and worth doing. So in 1962, he delivered a speech that inspired the country. He said, quote, “We choose to go to the moon this decade, and to do other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” Sorry, I didn’t mean to say “hard.” I meant to say hard. I don’t want to lose my Boston accent. 

In that one sentence, Kennedy summed up mankind’s inherent need to reach for the stars. He continued by saying, quote, “That challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one that we are unwilling to postpone, and one that we intend to win.” 

In other words, for the good of the United States, and humanity, it had to be done. And he was right. Neil Armstrong took a great leap for mankind. The U.S. won a major Cold War victory, and decades of scientific innovation led to an unprecedented era of technological advancement. 

The inventions that emerged from the moonshot changed the world: satellite television, computer microchips, CAT scan machines, and many other things that we now take for granted – even video game joysticks. Yes, there really was a life before Xbox.

The world we live in today is fundamentally different, not just because we landed on the moon, but because we tried to get there in the first place. In hindsight, President Kennedy’s call for the original moonshot at exactly the right moment in history was brilliant. And the brightest minds of their generation – many of them MIT graduates – delivered it. 

Today, I believe that we are living in a similar moment. And once again, we’ll be counting on MIT graduates – all of you – to lead us. 

But this time, our most important and pressing mission – your generation’s mission – is not to explore deep space and reach faraway places. It is to save our own planet, the one that we’re living on, from climate change. And unlike 1962, the primary challenge before you is not scientific or technological. It is political.

The fact is we’ve already pioneered the technology to tackle climate change. We know how to power buildings using sun and wind. We know how to power vehicles using batteries charged with renewable energy. We know how to power factories and industries using hydrogen and fuel cells. And we know that these innovations don’t require us to sacrifice financially or economically. Just the opposite, these investments, on balance, create jobs and save money.

Yes, all of those power sources need to be brought to scale – and that will require further scientific innovation, which we need you to help lead. But the question isn’t how to tackle climate change. We’ve known how to do that for many years. The question is: why the hell are we moving so slowly?

The race we are in is against time, and we are losing. And with each passing year, it becomes clearer just how far behind we’ve fallen, and how fast the situation is deteriorating, and how tragic the results can be.

In the past decade alone, we’ve seen historic hurricanes devastate islands across the Caribbean. We’ve seen ‘1,000-year floods’ hit the Midwestern and Southern United States multiple times in a decade. And we’ve seen record-breaking wildfires ravage California and record-breaking typhoons kill thousands in the Philippines.

This is a true crisis. And if we fail to rise to the occasion, your generation, your children, and grandchildren will pay a terrible price. So scientists know there can be no delay in taking action – and many government and political leaders around the world are starting to understand that.

Yet here in the United States, our federal government is seeking to become the only country in the world to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement – the only one. Not even North Korea is doing that.

Those in Washington who deny the science of climate change are no more based in reality than those who believe the moon landing was faked. And while the moon landing conspiracy theorists are relegated to the paranoid corners of talk radio, climate skeptics occupy the highest positions of power in the United States government.

Now, in the administration’s defense, climate change, they say, is only a theory – yeah, like gravity is only a theory.

People can ignore gravity at their own risk, at least until they hit the ground. But when they ignore the climate crisis, they are not only putting themselves at risk, they are putting all humanity at risk.

Instead of challenging Americans to believe in our ability to master the universe, as President Kennedy did, the current administration is pandering to the skeptics who, in the 1960s, looked at the space program and only saw short-term costs and long-term benefits.

President Kennedy’s era earned the nickname, ‘The Greatest Generation’ – not only because they persevered through the Great Depression and won the Second World War. They earned it because of determination to rise, to pioneer, to innovate, and to fulfill the promise of American freedom.

They dreamed in moonshots. They reached for the stars. And they began to redeem – through the Civil Rights Movement – the failures of the past. They set the standard for leadership and service to our nation’s ideals.

Now, your generation has the opportunity to join them in the history books. The challenge that lies before you – stopping climate change – is unlike any other ever faced by humankind. The stakes could not be higher.

If left unchecked, the climate change crisis threatens to destroy oceanic life that feeds so many people on this planet. It threatens to breed war by spreading drought and hunger. It threatens to sink coastal communities, devastate farms and businesses, and spread disease. 

Now, some people say, we should leave it in God’s hands. But most religious leaders, I’m happy to say, disagree. After all, where in the Bible, or the Torah, or the Koran, or any other book about faith or philosophy, does it teach that we should do things that make floods and fires and plagues more severe? I must have missed that day in religion class.

Today, most Americans in both parties accept that human activity is driving the climate crisis and they want government to take action. Over the past two months, there has been a healthy debate – mostly within the Democratic Party – over what those actions should be. And that’s great.

In the years ahead, we need to build consensus around comprehensive and ambitious federal policies that the next Congress should pass. But everyone who is concerned about the climate crisis should also be able to agree on two realities.

The first one is, given opposition in the Senate and White House, there is virtually no chance of passing such policies before 2021. And the second reality is we can’t wait to act. We can’t put this mission off any longer. Mother Nature does not wait on the election calendar – and neither can we.

Our foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, have been working for years to rally cities, and states, and businesses to lead on this issue – and we’ve had real success. Just not enough.

So today, I’m happy to announce that, with our foundation, I’m committing $500 million to the launch of a new national climate initiative, and I hope that you will all become part of it. We are calling it Beyond Carbon. The last one was Beyond Coal, this is Beyond Carbon because we have greater goals.

Our goal is to move the U.S. towards a 100% cleaner energy economy as expeditiously as possible, and begin that process right now. We intend to succeed not by sacrificing things we need, but by investing in things we want: the more good jobs, cleaner air and water, cheaper power, more transportation options, and less congested roads that we can get.

To do it, we will defeat in the courts the EPA’s attempt to roll back regulations that reduce carbon pollution and protect our air and water. But most of our battles will take place outside of Washington. We’re going to take the fight to the cities, and states – and directly to the people. And the fight will take place on four main fronts.

First, we will push states and utilities to phase out every last U.S. coal-fired power plant by 2030 – just 11 years from now. Politicians keep making promises about climate change mitigation by the year 2050 – hypocritically, after they’re long gone and no one can hold them accountable. Meanwhile, the science keeps moving the possible inflection point of irreversible global warming closer and closer. We have to set goals for the near term – and we have to hold our elected officials accountable for meeting them.

We know that closing every last U.S. coal-fired power plant over the next two years is achievable because we’re already more than halfway there. Through a partnership between Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Sierra Club, we’ve shut down 289 coal-fired power plants since 2011, and…and that includes 51 that we have retired since the 2016 presidential election despite all the bluster from the White House. As a matter of fact, since Trump got elected, the rate of closure has gone up.

Second, we will work to stop the construction of new gas plants. By the time they are built, they will be out of date – because renewable energy will be cheaper. Cities like Los Angeles are already stopping new gas plant construction in favor of renewable energy. And states like New Mexico, and Washington, and Hawaii, and California are working to convert their electric system to 100 percent clean energy.

We don’t want to replace one fossil fuel with another. We want to build a clean energy economy – and we will push more states to do that. 

Third, we will support our most powerful allies – governors, mayors, and legislators – in their pursuit of ambitious policies and laws. And we will empower the grassroots army of activists and environmental groups that are currently driving progress state by state.

Together, we will push for new incentives and mandates that increase renewable power, pollution-free buildings, waste-free energy, access to mass transit, and sales of electric vehicles, which are now turning the combustion engine – and all of its pollution – into a relic of the Industrial Revolution.

Fourth, and finally, we will get deeply involved in elections across the country, because climate change is now first and foremost a political problem, not a scientific quandary or even a technological puzzle.

Now, I know that, as scientists and engineers, “politics” can be a dirty word. I’m an engineer – I get it. But I’m also a realist, so I have three words for you: get over it.

At least for the foreseeable future, winning the battle against climate change will depend less on scientific advancement and more on political activism.

And that’s why Beyond Carbon includes political spending that will mobilize voters to go to the polls and support candidates who actually are taking action on something that could end life on Earth as we know it. At the same time, we will defeat at the voting booth those who try to block action and those who pander with rhetoric that just kicks the can down the road.

Our message to elected officials will be simple: face reality on climate change or face the music on Election Day. Our lives and our children’s lives depend on it – and so should their political careers.

Now, most of America will experience a net increase in jobs as we move to renewable energy sources and reduction in pollution. But in some places, jobs are being lost – we know that, and we can’t leave those communities behind.

For example, generations of miners powered America to greatness – and many paid for it with their lives and their health. But today, they need our help to change with technology and the economy.

And while it is up to the federal government to make those investments, Beyond Carbon will continue our foundation’s work to show that progress really is possible. So…it certainly does deserve a round of applause. So we will support local organizations in Appalachia and the Western mountain states, and work to spur economic growth, and retrain workers for jobs in growing industries.

Taken together, these four elements of Beyond Carbon will be the largest coordinated assault on the climate crisis that our country has ever undertaken.

Thank you. We will work to empower and expand the volunteers and activists fighting these battles community by community, state by state. It’s a process that our foundation and I have proved can succeed. After all, this isn’t the first time we’ve done an end run around Washington.

A decade ago, no one would have believed that we could take on the coal industry and close half of all U.S. plants, but we have. 

A decade ago, no one would have believed we could take on the NRA and pass stronger gun safety laws in states like Florida, Colorado, and Nevada, but we have.

Two decades ago, no one would have believed that we could take on the tobacco industry and spread New York City’s smoking ban to most of America and to countries around the world, but we have.

And now, we will take on the fossil fuel industry to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. I believe we will succeed again – but only if one thing happens, and that is: you have to help lead the way by raising your voices, by joining an advocacy group, by knocking on doors, by calling your elected officials, by voting, and getting your friends and family to join you. 

Back in the 1960s, when scientists here at MIT were racing to the moon, there was a populist saying that went: if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. Today, Washington is a very, very big part of the problem.

And we have to be part of a solution through political activism that puts the screws to our elected officials. Let me reiterate, this has gone from a scientific challenge to a political one. And it’s time for all of us to recognize that climate change is the challenge of our time.

As President Kennedy said 57 years ago on the moon mission, “we are willing to accept this challenge, we are unwilling to postpone it, and we intend to win it.” We must again do what is hard. Dammit, I meant to say hard.

Graduates, we need your minds and your creativity to achieve a clean energy future. But that’s not all. We need your voices. We need your votes. And we need you to help lead us where Washington will not. It may be a moonshot, but it’s the only shot we’ve got.

As you leave this campus, I hope you will carry with you the MIT’s tradition of taking – and making – moonshots. Be ambitious in every facet of your life. And don’t ever let something stop you because people say it’s impossible. Let those words inspire you. Because just as trying to make the impossible possible can lead to achievements you’ve never dreamed of. And sometimes, you actually do land on the moon.

So tonight, have one more beer at the Muddy. And tomorrow, start working on the mission that, if you succeed, will lead the whole world to call you The Greatest Generation, too.

Thank you, and congratulations.

前纽约市长布隆伯格在较晚阶段宣布参选美国总统，凸显了驱动民主党内竞选活动的一个深刻的哲学分歧——利用他的经历、声望和财富来证明，要击败一位打破传统的总统，需要的是一届务实、能干的中间派政府。

迄今为止，民主党内暂且无人一马当先。布隆伯格表示，他希望填补这一空白，在初选中给选民提供一个可靠的替代选项，同时也给出一个明确的选择，迈上一条对税收和医疗问题持有温和观点的道路；民主党目前担心，如果提倡被认为过于偏左的政策，只会让特朗普的连任板上钉钉。

特朗普曾表示，他最想挑战的竞选者就是纽约前市长布隆伯格，但同时他也认为布隆伯格一旦参选，必将惨败。特朗普向媒体透露：“布隆伯格自身存在着大大小小各方面的问题，他的竞选注定是不会成功的，只是无意义地浪费钱罢了，但一定程度上他的加入会对拜登的竞选造成影响。” 

前不久公布的2019年福布斯全球亿万富豪榜中，布隆伯格以高达520亿美元的净资产排名世界第9位，相比之下，特朗普的净资产只有32亿美元，或许，比起其参选的决定，布隆伯格多达16倍的财富才最让特朗普恼火。

前纽约市长迈克尔·布隆伯格（Michael Bloomberg）正式宣布竞选总统。此举可能会使将于明天春天开始的民主党总统候选人提名的竞争，完全具有另一番景象。

在11月24日（周日）的一份声明中，布隆伯格说，他之所以要参加竞选，是要重建美国和击败总统特朗普。他说，美国总统特朗普"对我们的国家和我们的价值观是一个生存威胁"。

声明继续说："如果他赢得连任，我们可能永远不会从损害中恢复过来。赌注不可能更高。我们必须赢得这次选举。我们必须开始重建美国。我相信我在商业、政府和慈善事业方面的独特经验，将让我赢得选举并做一个好的领导人。"

布隆伯格的首席顾问沃尔夫森23日接受采访时表示，布隆伯格竞选总统不接受政治捐赠，且成功当选总统后也不会领薪水，或者只拿1美元的象征性薪水。这与现任总统特朗普有些类似，特朗普曾宣称他将总统薪水全数捐给了慈善机构。 

沃尔夫森表示，布隆伯格用自己的财富来参选是竞选优势，因为“没人能买通布隆伯格”，他可以不受利益集团影响，更好地关注大众需求。被问及布隆伯格参选总统要花多少钱时，沃尔夫森表示：“只要能打败特朗普，花多少钱都行！”

布隆伯格竞选纲领 

I’m running for president to defeat Donald Trump and rebuild America.

We cannot afford four more years of President Trump’s reckless and unethical actions. He represents an existential threat to our country and our values. If he wins another term in office, we may never recover from the damage.

The stakes could not be higher. We must win this election. And we must begin rebuilding America.

I believe my unique set of experiences in business, government, and philanthropy will enable me to win and lead.

As a candidate, I’ll rally a broad and diverse coalition of Americans to win. And as president, I have the skills to fix what is broken in our great nation. And there is a lot broken.

We have an economy that is tilted against most Americans.We have a health care system that costs too much and doesn’t cover everyone.We have communities ravaged by gun violence.We have schools that aren’t preparing our children for success in an increasingly high-tech world.We have an immigration system that is cruel and dysfunctional.We have a climate crisis that is growing worse by the day.We have special interests that corrupt Washington and block progress on all of these issues.As a child and a Boy Scout, I was taught to believe in the promise and potential of America, and I have never been more worried about its future than I am today.

America is at its best when we work together to find meaningful and lasting solutions to the big challenges that we face.

We need a president who understands that truth – and who can do it, rather than just make promises.

I offer myself as a doer and a problem solver – not a talker. And as someone who is ready to take on the tough fights – and win.

I took on Trump on gun violence – and won stronger gun laws in states across the country.

I took on Trump the climate denier – and have led an effort that has closed more than half the nation’s dirty coal plants.

Trump right now is carrying water for Big Tobacco. I’ve taken on the dangers of e-cigarettes to protect our kids.

I know what it takes to beat Trump, because I already have. And I will do it again.

I’ve never shied away from a tough fight.

Defeating Trump – and rebuilding America – is the most urgent and important fight of our lives. And I’m going all in.

My resolve to stand up to his bigotry and hatred and wrong-headed policies is anchored in who I am and my belief in government as a force for good.

I’ve spent my career bringing people together to tackle big problems – and fix them. It has worked well in business – and in running the country’s largest, most progressive city.

I know it can work in Washington, too – and I have the leadership skills and experience to make it happen.

I’ve been very lucky in life. Growing up, my father never earned more than $6,000 in a year. But my mother and father worked very hard to help my sister  and me get an education. I managed to work my way through college and get an entry-level job in New York.

And then, when I was 39, I got laid off. I didn’t know what I’d do next. But I had an idea to start a company – so I took a chance.

Today our company employs 20,000 people and generates large profits, almost all of which go to helping people across the country and around the world. I’ve always believed in investing in our employees and treating them well. We pay employees very well and provide the best health care benefits money can buy. And if someone has a baby, they get six months of paid leave.

I’ve run my company according to my values: honesty, integrity, fairness, inclusion – and that’s the same approach I brought to city government.

I was elected mayor of America’s most diverse city just weeks after the attacks of 9/11. It was a frightening time for our city and country. But we rebuilt the economy with new jobs and opportunity – for people on all rungs of the economic ladder.

We gave our teachers the largest raise in America, and we improved graduation rates by 42 percent. We cut murders in half while reducing incarceration by nearly 40 percent. We cut the city’s carbon footprint by 14 percent and created new programs to combat poverty. And we expanded health care and strengthened immigrant communities.

As mayor, my priority was helping the millions of New Yorkers who needed it most.

And the issues I am most passionate about focus on righting wrongs that have fallen heaviest on the most vulnerable communities. I know government can improve people’s lives – because when I ran New York City, that’s exactly what we did.

Since leaving City Hall, I founded the largest gun safety group in history. I created a campaign to take on the biggest polluters and climate threats. As mayor, I banned smoking in restaurants and bars and cut teen smoking by 50 percent – and today, we continue to win battles against the tobacco industry and their sleazy attempts to hook young kids on e-cigarettes.I know how to take on the powerful special interests that corrupt Washington. And I know how to win – because I’ve done it, time and again. I will be the only candidate in this race who isn’t going to take a penny from anyone and will work for a dollar a year.

Over the course of this campaign, I’ll tell you what I will do as president, and how I’ll do it. I’ll outline plans for:

Creating good-paying jobsProviding quality health care for every AmericanStopping gun violenceFighting climate changeFixing our broken immigration systemRaising taxes on wealthy individuals like meProtecting women’s and LGBTQ rightsSupporting our veteransReestablishing America’s place in the world as a force for peace and stabilityBut more than plans, I offer the leadership to turn plans into reality. To roll up my sleeves, to motivate a country to unite and rebuild America – and make it fairer and better.

And I’m ready to get working.

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