Jill Stein: Why You Should Vote Green | Opinion - Newsweek

Given the nature of the mainstream media, this might be the first you're hearing about me, so I'll start simply: My name is Dr. Jill Stein, I am the nominee of the Green Party, and I am running for president. I'm on the ballot in enough states to win, and I'm offering a real choice for voters who are hungry for a better way forward.

So, why vote Green?

Quite simply, the political system is broken. The two Wall Street parties are bought and paid for, and while they are not exactly the same, it's clear that both establishment parties are abandoning working people, worsening the climate crisis, undermining democracy, and squandering trillions on the endless war machine while tens of millions of Americans lack housing, food, healthcare and more.

We can do better—and we must.

People are desperate for a new way forward. Roughly 60 percent of us here in the United States now say the two-party system has failed and we need a party that serves the people. I'm running for President to offer that choice to the American people. Our campaign is the only anti-war, anti-genocide, pro-worker, pro-climate action choice with a path to the White House.

I'm running because I feel a moral imperative to fight for the real change we need. Like so many voters I meet on the campaign trail, I can't just sit by and watch our government fund genocide, abandon working people, and pour fuel on the flames of the climate crisis. We are facing existential threats and I am running to represent the majority of people who see that the corporate duopoly of Democrats and Republicans isn't going to solve our problems.

Of course, the usual political insiders and attack dogs are smearing me along with voters who want better choices. But without freedom of choice in elections, there is no democracy. Continuing to vote for the two parties that got us into this mess is not going to get us out of it. It's time to forget the elites who tell you to ignore your struggle and to keep voting for the politicians who caused it.

Change won't come from them; it has to come from the people, from a groundswell of disaffected folks who finally say enough is enough.

So why vote Green?

Because if we come together, we can create an economy that works for all of us—with living-wage jobs (a $25-an-hour minimum wage tied to inflation and productivity increases), healthcare (improved Medicare for All), public housing, healthy food that is free of cancerous toxins, affordable childcare, debt-free education, and guaranteed livable income as human rights. We can end mass incarceration, fix our immigration system, and ensure our rights, freedoms, and justice for all. We can create a Green New Deal with millions of jobs to fight climate collapse, secure clean air, water, and food, and protect Mother Earth. You certainly won't hear me celebrating the fact that the United States produced more fossil fuel in the last year than ever before, after we've just experienced the 10 hottest years in recorded history. We can't allow bought-off politicians to condemn our children to an unlivable future

Go look at the platform page of my website. You'll see a detailed outline of everything I stand for. Then look at the similar sections on our opponents' sites, if you can even find their positions on the issues that matter to you. Which set of proposals will make your life better? Why should we settle for the tiny, incremental change the corporate masters of the Democratic and Republican parties might allow us? We can do better, and we deserve better.

We can end endless war, rampant militarism, and genocide, and launch a new foreign policy based on diplomacy, international law, and human rights. Why are we constantly putting our troops in harm's way to destroy countries and kill people across the globe? Why do we have 800 military bases around the world? We have a moral imperative to stop funding endless wars and start taking better care of our people.

Finally, when you hear me called a "spoiler," doesn't it make you wonder why even though the majority of Americans want more choices, the system makes it virtually impossible to run outside the failed two-party system? We can revive our democracy with ranked-choice voting, proportional representation, and public campaign financing to get big money out of politics. I would spearhead that effort on day one. Voters like you have said over and over again that you want more choices. Let's make it happen.

We have the power to do all this and more—and we can use it in 2024 to start building an America and a world that works for all of us.

Jill Stein is a Harvard-educated doctor, a pioneering environmental health advocate, and an organizer for people, planet, and peace. She is the Green Party candidate for President of the United States.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.