As posted at dallasnews.com, Dallas Mavericks billionaire owner and Shark Tank investor Mark Cuban sent an e-mail to his fans this past week explaining why he chooses to remain politically independent. Although he refuses to join the Republican Party for the stated reasons. he “would prefer to be Republican.” His statement is posted in full below.
I am so ready for the Mavs season to start. Until then the sport of the day is politics. Today’s game is trashing the Republican Party
I would prefer to be a Republican. I want smaller government. I want smarter government. Just like most Republicans
Put aside that I disagree with Republicans on most social issues. The Republicans have a much bigger problem that will crush them in every Presidential election until this changes.
The Republican Party requires that all their Presidential candidates Conform to Consensus.
If you don’t agree with every platform of the party not only are you called a RINO, a “Republican in Name Only. You are considered unelectable in primaries and become a source of scorn on Fox News
That’s a problem.
Leaders don’t conform to the consensus. They create consensus to their vision and goals.
Leaders don’t change their positions mid debate. They welcome scorn from the masses because it creates the opportunity for dialogue.
Leaders don’t look backwards to condemn what has already been done, they look forward to create a better future.
Leaders are not dogmatic. They are principled and know that change is never easy, but when it’s necessary, they must lead.
The Republican Party does everything possible to discourage leadership.
They want dogma.
They want conformity.
They want to conserve their romanticized past.
That’s a shame. I wish they wanted to conserve the best of what America is today and find a leader that can take us to new places that make our future better.
I realize that’s not the way politics work in this day and age. And that just proves the point.
And btw, I know a lot of the same can be said about the democrats, but I don’t want to be a democrat.
Until things change, I’ll sit in the middle and think for myself. Unlike the Republicans.
Cuban has also expressed interest in being the running mate of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has left open the possibility of running as an Independent. However, Cuban does not believe it is likely he will be asked. He provides his analysis of the Trump campaign here.
Lastly, in a recent interview with WFAA in Dallas, Cuban gives his take on libertarianism, running for political office, and discusses his role as President of the United States in the Syfy movie Sharknado 3.
Yesterday Cuban spoke with CNBC. News organizations like USA Today completely misconstrued the interview as suggesting that Cuban was considering running for president as a Democrat in 2016. He clearly stated that he would not run in 2016 and does not yet have the temperament to run (His answers were reminiscent of Trump in ’87 when Trump toyed with but decided against running in ’88 while leaving open the possibility of a future run). All Cuban said in the CNBC interview was that if he did run as a Democrat (even though he wouldn’t) he would defeat Hillary Clinton and then defeat Trump in the general election. The first part may be true, but I don’t know about the second. Nevertheless, look out for Cuban in the future because he has the potential to be a political tour de force like Trump.
Might be interesting if he ran as a “silent partner” VP with Johnson, a la Koch ’80. The possibility was at least discussed in 2012.
Or the top of the ticket…
http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2015/09/15/Mark-Cuban-says-he-would-crush-Trump-Clinton-in-presidential-race/8971442339134/
Not according to WS’s link.