Never In A Million Years Will I Vote For Jill Stein
I sincerely hope that someday, years from now, those few remaining Bernie or Busters take some comfort from the knowledge that they remained totally ideologically pure to the very end. I hope that they are proud to say they stayed home and didn’t vote. I especially hope it warms their hearts to say that they handed this election to Trump by believing in Dr. Jill Stein and voting Green.
I have seen a disturbing trend in the news and on social media lately. In the wake of the Democratic Primary, Jill Stein seems to have decided unilaterally that she shall take up the torch of Senator Bernie Sanders and his political revolution. This is despite that fact that he has said he is passing this torch to his supporters and to Hillary Clinton, not to Jill Stein.
Like the Bernier Than Thou wing of Sanders’ movement, Stein doesn’t actually seem to give a damn what Sanders thinks. So it’s fitting that many of the Bernier Than Thou wing are flocking to her: they don’t seem to give a damn what he thinks either.
Jill Stein and the Green Party embody, in many ways, everything I find wrong with the modern left wing of American politics. This is not so much because of their policies, even if the Green Party is the political embodiment of an upper-middle-class white mom from California who force-feeds her daughter kale (or is it açaí berries now? I can never keep up with superfoods) and refuses to vaccinate her for smallpox*. Never forget, avoiding The Autism is worth your child dying of plague!
That’s not why I find them misguided, though. I find the Green Party misguided because they represent a totally uncompromising position. I find them misguided because Jill Stein perpetuates right wing myths about Hillary Clinton in a self-serving way. I find them misguided because they care more about possibly, maybe, if they are very lucky, getting 5% of the popular vote than about actually creating change.
I also find them misguided because Jill Stein is the type of person who thinks that neoliberalism caused the Holocaust, but that isn’t really relevant to my point. Regardless, I’m going to put it in big, italicized letters so you can marvel for a moment over what an extraordinarily stupid idea this is.
“Putting another Clinton in the White House will fan the flames of this right-wing extremism,” [Stein] said. “We have known that for a long time, ever since Nazi Germany.”
Ahem. Anyway. (Oh, she also has no effing clue how nuclear power plants work.)
In the world I live in, my political views spring forth from a well of compassion for others. I believe that Black Lives Matter because nobody deserves to be gunned down in the street. I believe in equal pay for equal work because I believe that no woman should have to rely on any income but her own. I believe in the legal right for trans people to use the restroom they feel comfortable in because I believe everyone should feel safe when using the bathroom, always.
I don’t think this is true for the Greens. The Greens seem to see politics as a race that you win by being the most ideologically pure. Jill Stein and many others just want to get to the finish line and get to shout, “I win! I compromised on nothing!”
I think this because, from what I have seen, the Greens don’t understand the meaning of compromise. They don’t understand that we live in a republic built on compromise. No one ever achieved anything in America by remaining totally ideologically pure, as the Green Party advocates. They achieved their goals by bending a little here and a little quid pro quo there. Sure, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, I’ll vote for your civil rights act, just put in exemptions for small business.
That may not be very sexy to hear, but it’s true. Any progressive who is actually invested in creating lasting change will realize that it requires, on some level, compromise. So I have to assume that Stein and the Greens aren’t actually interested in reaching across the aisle and creating change the way that Sanders is. Jill Stein is just cynically trying to snatch up disillusioned Sanders voters, the fate of the country be damned.
Arguably, Sanders got more out of losing than he ever would have out of winning. The Democratic Party platform is the most progressive it’s ever been. Hillary Clinton herself has adopted many of his policies. He has inspired a generation of future legislators and town council members. He even got the Democratic Party to compromise with him and eliminate most of the super delegates.
Bernie Sanders understands that American democracy is all about compromise. He has understood that for years — as far as his legislative career goes, that’s what he’s known for: reaching across the aisle and creating change through compromise. Our nation is built on that. It thrives on that. When a wealth of ideas is brought to the table, it enriches every one of us. If you want your progressive ideas to be listened to for the next four years, you won’t vote Stein.
One of two things will happen this November: Hillary Clinton will win the election, or Donald Trump will. If you like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, you should vote for Hillary Clinton. Even if you like Jill Stein, you should vote for Hillary Clinton. Sanders and Warren are going to be able to accomplish a lot under a Clinton administration by compromising. They’ll accomplish nothing at all under Trump.
Under Clinton, even some of the things Jill Stein likes might get done. Like fighting climate change. Trump doesn’t even believe in climate change. You, me, and everyone you know is going to die if we keep electing people who don’t believe in climate change. But that’s a plea for a different article.
Change may come slowly in America, but it doesn’t often get reversed. Given the choice between lasting change and swift change, I’ll take lasting change every time. So, no, I won’t be voting for Jill Stein: she only seems interested in trying to win.
*I am aware that Stein herself is not, strictly speaking, an anti-vaxxer, but the Green Party is home to many anti-vaxxers who are not Jill Stein, and Stein herself is somewhat evasive on the question.
