Jill Stein herself is great, and I agree with her on most things, but I will never vote for her.
Currently in the U.S. no third party, not the Green party and not the Libertarians, has the organization to run viable down ticket campaigns in most districts. At best, they have a token showing in their most idealogically aligned counties. So even if Stein won the presidency, she would not have any presence in Congress under her own party.
So she would have to work with the other parties, the same parties that she just embarrassed on the biggest national stage. Any policy she wanted heard would be dead on arrival. She would be shut out of the legislative process, simply out of spite.
But she would still be president! The last 6 years of Obama's term have been a case study in how ineffective a lone President really is. He made some executive orders and made waves internationally, but his domestic agenda was almost completely stymied. Surely an effective president that you kind of agree with is better than an ineffective one you love?
Then what if she loses? Where is she getting her votes? Few Republicans will be crossing the isle to vote for the Green party, and the platform you outline. Democrats and Liberals pulled from Clinton are all you would get. That is exactly how you get a Trump presidency.
I loved Bernie. I am sad that he lost. The guiding principle of democracy, however, is sometimes the other team wins. It happens. When your first choice is gone, vote for your second. For all the reasons I list above, my second is Hillary Clinton.
Many republicans would be crossing the aisle to vote for libertarians if individuals actually voted for who they wanted to win.
The two party system is the worst thing to ever happen to American democracy. The root cause is in the voting rules: you only vote for one candidate. In Australian elections you have to list all the options in order of preference, it's wonderful. That's the kind of voting the Green Party would enact, the kind of voting that wouldn't benefit Trump.
Yes, perhaps this time Jill isn't going to win but if people actually vote with the party they're most aligned with then they would have a much better showing, turn some heads, and get candidates running at all levels.
I'm sad Bernie lost too. That's a bitch the DNC undercut him. He gave a good speech supporting Hillary, how anyone rational would vote for her at this point and all that.
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