Judy Sheindlin

Opinion contributor

Editor's note: This column was originally published on Oct. 16, 2019.

I was invited to speak at the Cambridge Union in England earlier this month, and it was an honor to meet with so many intelligent, socially involved people. During the Q&A that followed my remarks, the moderator asked my opinion about the 2020 presidential election, and I didn’t mince words. I said our American family has been fractured in recent years. We’re hopelessly divided, and a bitterly divided family cannot thrive. The only way we can begin to come together again, I said, is if Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City, becomes our next president.

I realize I am taking a personal and a career risk in making such a statement. I have carefully stayed away from politics for 50 years, except to vote. But times have changed in our country, and I believe the moment has come for me to step out from behind the curtain. I want to speak honestly and from the heart — regardless of the consequences.

I realize Michael Bloomberg said in March that he will not run for president in 2020 (though he might be reconsidering that position, according to anonymous sources). I respect his comment — but our political landscape has changed profoundly since he made it. There is ferment on the left and the right, candidacies are rising and falling, and this has created an opportunity for Bloomberg, a man of the center, to change his mind.

Michael Bloomberg, pragmatist

Here’s why I believe that’s so important.

An independent, tough-minded businessman, he represents our best chance to bring America together again and begin the long national process of healing. Unlike those on the far the right and the far left who use their bully pulpit to divide us, he’s a pragmatist, a man who has shown time and again that he knows how to get things done and cares more about results than ideology. That’s a skill in short supply these days, on both sides.

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I believe that if your political party has lost an election — either to elect a mayor, governor or president of the United States — you are obligated to spend the next four years finding the best possible candidate to beat the incumbent. There used to be a preponderance of folks on the Democratic side who understood the need to elect a centrist candidate, someone who could build coalitions and reach across the aisle. But in this campaign, candidates are fighting to out-left each other with pie-in-the-sky proposals for free money and free education. Everybody gets a thousand dollars, everybody gets free college tuition. Everybody gets, everybody gets, but where does all this getting come from?

We need a no-nonsense president who’s sane, competent and honest, someone who can’t be bought and has no skin in the game. As he showed during 12 years as mayor in New York City Hall, Michael Bloomberg fits the bill. He’s a self-made billionaire, a man who made a lot of money in a very straightforward, transparent way. He’s an advocate for strong action on climate change. He believes in reasonable gun control, like the vast majority of Americans. He believes in making certain that the criminal element in our society — which scars the life of so many — is treated firmly, swiftly and fairly.

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Most important, he’s the only person out there who seems to understand that screaming at one another gets us nowhere. After all the sound and fury we’ve experienced in the past three years, we need to tone down the rhetoric. Americans can no longer afford to let shrill voices drown out all the others in our society, because that would be a distortion of everything we stand for.

Americans once disagreed civilly

I realize you may vehemently disagree with me, and that’s OK. We all know that spirited debate is part of what makes this country great, and so different from other nations. But let’s keep it civil. As fellow Americans, we should respect each other’s voices. If someone expresses an opinion in a thoughtful, well-behaved manner, those who disagree should do so in the same manner. Sadly, that lesson has been utterly forgotten since the last presidential election, and we’re paying the price for it every day.

America is a young country, compared with the nations of Europe and Asia, and we still have a spectacular story to tell the world. But we’re also a work in progress, and the 2020 presidential election will be one of the most important in our history. I know I would sleep better — and so would millions of other Americans — if the next president is someone who listens patiently and respectfully to all sides of an issue before taking action. Let’s not waste this opportunity to show that we are still an extraordinary beacon for the world. In this election, our votes can truly make a difference — and that’s why I strongly urge Michael Bloomberg to run for president.

Judy Sheindlin is a former supervising judge of Manhattan Family Court. She is the presiding judge of the Emmy-award winning series "Judge Judy."