我一直公開表示，唐納德·特朗普對美國來說是個威脅。2016年民主黨全國大會上我就說過：“紐約人一眼就能看穿騙局。”去年秋天中期選舉時，我出資1億多美元支持民主黨。在國會里，共和黨人很失敗，而且一錯再錯，未能履行憲法賦予總統的責任。而且共和黨一直縱容特朗普胡作非為，在最緊急的問題上拒絕與民主黨合作。

當務之急是提名一位最有機會擊敗特朗普的民主黨人，把美國重新團結起來。初選過程不可內耗過大，否則將削弱贏得大選的機會，最后變成“又得熬四年”。

許多人勸我競選。有人告訴我，要想獲得民主黨內提名，要改變觀點迎合民意測驗。但我整個政治生涯中都有人這么說。

我競選過三次，每次都獲得了勝利，很大程度上因為我從來沒根據輿論風向決定政治觀點。我性格如此，也認為選民也不會選喜歡跟風的領袖。人們希望領袖能說實話，即便意見不一致，也能提出實際、明智且雄心勃勃的想法，真正解決問題見成效。

我來自商界，在私營部門和政府部門都工作過。解決難題是我平生最熱愛的事。我的技能是建立和領導團隊，制定創新計劃，然后共同實施。我認為這正是身為國家總統應該做的事，尤其是經歷了四年的混亂顛倒和欺騙之后。

我知道競選獲勝需要什么，每天讀新聞時我都對總統辦公室的無能越來越沮喪。我很清楚我們國家可以做得更好，也相信可以在大選中擊敗特朗普。但我清楚地認識到，在面臨諸多競爭的情況下，想獲得民主黨提名非常困難。

我在思想上還有另一個沉重負擔，即未來兩年內美國面臨最大的問題可能惡化。由于白宮領導人拒絕聯合兩黨力量，國會幾乎不可能解決面臨的主要挑戰，包括氣候變化、槍支暴力、阿片類藥物濫用危機、公立學校倒閉和大學學費高昂等。種種問題都可能逐步惡化，總統的許多行為只會讓事情更復雜。

我深愛自己的國家，不能袖手旁觀，在國家問題惡化時不能只是希望一切變好。但我也意識到，到2021年甚至更長時間里，推動進步真正的希望都不能靠聯邦政府。與大多數已經參與或考慮競選的人們不同，我的幸運之處在于有能力投入資源將人們聚集在一起，共同推動巨大的改變。

離開公職以來，我已經創建并支持了一些倡議，努力號召公民和城市、州、企業和非營利組織領導人自行采取行動。像我一樣，大多數的美國人希望改善社區，真正做一些事情。我們一起證明，即使沒有聯邦政府幫助，同樣可能完成。

接下來的兩年里，我們可以完成更多的工作，但前提是繼續努力并不斷擴展。事實是：參與全國性的大選活動反而會限制我的能力。

因此，我考慮參與總統競選時，面前的選擇已經很清晰。如果明知道可能不會獲得民主黨提名，接下來兩年里應不應該大力宣講我的想法，介紹執政經歷？還是應該在接下來兩年加倍投入到已經領導和資助的工作上，而且很明顯這些工作現在就能為國家帶來真正有益的結果？

我逐漸意識到，比起夸夸其談我更喜歡實際做事。結論是，目前幫助國家最好的辦法就是卷起袖子繼續工作。

介紹下我做的工作。2011年，在國會的總量控制與交易立法失敗后，我與塞拉俱樂部合作開展了一項名為“超越煤炭”的運動。通過組織動員受燃煤電廠污染影響的社區，幫助關閉了全國一半以上的電廠（530個電廠中的285個），取而代之的是更潔凈也更便宜的能源。這是美國將碳足跡減少11%的最大原因之一，而且將燃煤發電廠導致的死亡人數從13000人減少到3000人。

現在是重要的下一步。首先，我將增加對“超越煤炭”運動的支持，爭取在未來11年實現所有燃煤發電廠關閉。這不是白日夢。我們可以做到。第二，我將把運動推向全新也更雄心勃勃的階段，即超越碳排放。通過民間努力推動美國盡快擺脫石油和天然氣，邁向100%的清潔能源經濟。

超越碳的核心是認為進展中每一年都很重要，科學界也已經明確指出。十年前由專欄作家湯姆·弗里德曼首次提出綠色新政，未來兩年參議院不可能通過。但是大自然不會等待人類的政治日程，人類也同樣等不起。

槍支暴力方面也差不多。近25年來，國會還沒通過重要的槍支安全法案。上周，民主黨眾議院投票通過了加強背景審查的法案，但共和黨參議院肯定會阻止該法案通過。由于多年來組織動員的基層努力，20個州通過了更強力的背景調查法案或其他法律，防止槍支落入危險人群手中。但20個州遠遠不夠，考慮到面臨的風險，現在不能停止。

槍支暴力和氣候變化還只是諸多緊迫挑戰的一部分，即便聯盟政府繼續無視已經過證明的解決方案，我們仍然要努力獲得進展。

我們知道如何改善公立學校，大力減少種族成就的差距。紐約市的做法是，提高標準、增加問責制、給孩子提供在當今以知識和技術為基礎的經濟中成長所需的教育。

我們知道如何增加低收入學生上大學的機會。這也是基金會努力的目標，現在主要與學院合作，給予經濟援助和招聘機會，也為高中生申請提供協助。

我們知道如何應付阿片類藥物成癮現象，提升醫療質量和就醫機會，減少無家可歸者數量。紐約市人均預期壽命延長了三年，我正在努力幫助其他城市達到類似目標。

我們培養公民領袖，扶持他們從事的創新工作，從底層做起解決國家面臨的挑戰。這是基金會工作的重點，也是解決當前最嚴峻挑戰的答案所在。

我們知道，為了保護民主，就要組織起來保護每位公民的投票權。

在很多問題上，未來兩年內聯邦政府不太可能采取有效行動。進步完全取決于我們。

在未來幾周和幾個月里，我將通過具體的行動和成果，更深入地研究如何扭轉國家的局面。我將繼續支持能在氣候變化、槍支暴力、教育、衛生、投票權和其他關鍵問題上發揮領導作用的候選人，并繼續為實現承諾而努力。

希望敦促我競選并幫他們呼吁價值觀和原則人們能理解，左右我決定的其實是一個問題：我怎樣才能更好地為國家服務？

雖然沒有比擔任總統更高的榮譽，但作為美國公民，現在我最大的義務是盡我所能幫助國家。

（財富中文網）

前紐約市市長邁克爾·布隆伯格是彭博新聞社的母公司彭博有限公司的創始人和大股東。他也是聯合國秘書長氣候行動特使。

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

I’ve never made any secret of my belief that Donald Trump is a threat to our country. At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, I said: “New Yorkers know a con when we see one.” Last fall I spent more than $100 million supporting Democrats in the midterm elections. Republicans in Congress had failed—and are still failing—to fulfill their constitutional duty to hold the president accountable. Instead, they indulge his worst impulses and refuse to work with Democrats on the most urgent issues.

It’s essential that we nominate a Democrat who will be in the strongest position to defeat Donald Trump and bring our country back together. We cannot allow the primary process to drag the party to an extreme that would diminish our chances in the general election and translate into “Four More Years.”

Many people have urged me to run. Some have told me that to win the Democratic nomination, I would need to change my views to match the polls. But I’ve been hearing that my whole political career.

I’ve run for office three times and won each time, in no small part because I’ve never stuck my finger in the wind to decide what I should believe. It’s not who I am, nor do I think it’s what voters want in a leader. They want someone who levels with them, even when they disagree, and who is capable of offering practical, sensible, and ambitious ideas—and of solving problems and delivering results.

I come out of the business world. I’ve had executive jobs in both the private sector and government. Finding solutions to tough problems is my life’s passion. My skills are in building and leading teams that draw up innovative plans and then work together to implement them. I think this is exactly what our country needs in a president, especially after what will be four years of chaos, disruption, and deceit.

I know what it takes to run a winning campaign, and every day when I read the news, I grow more frustrated by the incompetence in the Oval Office. I know we can do better as a country. And I believe I would defeat Donald Trump in a general election. But I am clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination in such a crowded field.

There is another factor that has weighed heavily on my mind: the likelihood that our biggest national problems will worsen over the next two years. With a leader in the White House who refuses to bring the parties together, it will be nearly impossible for Congress to address the major challenges we face, including climate change, gun violence, the opioid crisis, failing public schools, and college affordability. All are likely to grow more severe, and many of the president’s executive actions will only compound matters.

I love our country too much to sit back and hope for the best as national problems get worse. But I also recognize that until 2021, and possibly longer, our only real hope for progress lies outside of Washington. And unlike most who are running or thinking of it, I’m fortunate enough to be in a position to devote the resources needed to bring people together and make a big difference.

Since leaving public office, I’ve created and supported initiatives that are rallying citizens and leaders of cities, states, businesses, and nonprofit organizations to take action on their own. Like me, most Americans want to improve their communities and get things done. Together, we’ve shown that’s possible even without help from Washington.

I know there’s much more we can accomplish over the next two years, but only if we stay focused on the work and expand upon it. And the fact is: A national presidential campaign would limit my ability to do that.

So as I’ve thought about a possible presidential campaign, the choice before me has become clear. Should I devote the next two years to talking about my ideas and record, knowing that I might never win the Democratic nomination? Or should I spend the next two years doubling down on the work that I am already leading and funding, and that I know can produce real and beneficial results for the country, right now?

I’ve come to realize that I’m less interested in talking than doing. And I have concluded that, for now, the best way for me to help our country is by rolling up my sleeves and continuing to get work done.

Here’s one way I’ll do that. In 2011, following the failure of cap and trade legislation in Congress, I teamed up with the Sierra Club on a campaign called Beyond Coal. By organizing and mobilizing communities affected by the harmful pollution of coal-fired power plants, we have helped close more than half the nation’s plants—285 out of 530 — and replaced them with cleaner and cheaper energy. That was the single biggest reason the U.S. has been able to reduce its carbon footprint by 11 percent — and cut deaths from coal power plants from 13,000 to 3,000.

Now, I will take the next big steps. First, I will expand my support for the Beyond Coal campaign so that we can retire every single coal-fired power plant over the next 11 years. That’s not a pipe dream. We can do it. And second, I will launch a new, even more ambitious phase of the campaign — Beyond Carbon: a grassroots effort to begin moving America as quickly as possible away from oil and gas and toward a 100 percent clean energy economy.

At the heart of Beyond Carbon is the conviction that, as the science has made clear, every year matters. The idea of a Green New Deal — first suggested by the columnist Tom Friedman more than a decade ago — stands no chance of passage in the Senate over the next two years. But Mother Nature does not wait on our political calendar, and neither can we.

The same applies to gun violence. Congress has not passed a major gun safety bill in nearly 25 years. Last week the Democratic House voted to approve a bill strengthening the background check system, but the Republican Senate is virtually guaranteed to block it. Nevertheless, thanks to strong grassroots efforts that we have spent years organizing and mobilizing, 20 states have passed stronger background check bills or adopted other laws that help keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people. But 20 states is not enough, and we can’t stop now given the risks to our country.

Gun violence and climate change are not the only urgent challenges where we must make progress even as Washington continues to ignore proven solutions.

We know how to improve public schools and dramatically reduce the racial achievement gap. We did it in New York City, by raising standards, increasing accountability, and giving our children the education they need to thrive in today’s knowledge- and technology-based economy.

We know how to increase access to college for low-income students. My foundation is doing just that, by working with colleges to increase financial aid and recruitment, and giving high school students more support with the application process.

We know how to reduce opioid addiction; improve the quality of health care and access to it; and reduce homelessness on our streets. We extended life expectancy by three years in New York City, and I’m working to help other cities make similar progress.

We know how to strengthen local communities, by investing in civic leaders and the innovative work they are doing to tackle our nation’s challenges from the ground up. This is a central focus of my foundation’s work, and it is where answers to many of our toughest challenges lie.

And we know that to protect our democracy, we need to organize to protect every citizen’s right to vote.

On these and other issues, Washington is unlikely to take effective action over the next two years. Progress depends entirely on the rest of us.

In the weeks and months ahead, I will dive even deeper into the work of turning around our country, through concrete actions and results. And I will continue supporting candidates who can provide the leadership we need—on climate change, gun violence, education, health, voting rights, and other critical issues—and continue holding their feet to the fire to deliver what they promise.

I hope those who have urged me to run, and to stand up for the values and principles that they hold dear, will understand that my decision was guided by one question: How can I best serve the country?

While there would be no higher honor than serving as president, my highest obligation as a citizen is to help the country the best way I can, right now.

Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. He is the UN secretary-general’s special envoy for climate action.