Bernie Sanders Supporters Should be Rallying Harder Around Jill Stein
Bernie Sanders continues to do well this primary season, and even though the road ahead is in his favor, it is important for his supporters to have a Plan B as it is still entirely possible for him to lose the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton. We need to be somewhat organized if push comes to shove.
We will obviously not vote for Hillary, even if Bernie Sanders and Robert Reich tell us to. Joshua Holland over at The Nation thinks he has us figured out, and it is fair to say nobody knows how things will play out, but Bernie supporters are unwilling to settle for the candidates chosen for us by the oligarchs. There has been a lot of grassroots mobilization to move toward an actual democratic election process that will not happen with establishment candidates in office. We have come so far and must refuse any setback now. This movement is bigger than Bernie Sanders. It’s bigger than Elizabeth Warren and the Democratic Party. As hard as it may be to digest, this movement is more important than keeping Donald Trump (or any Republican) out of the White House. Rather, part of being revolutionary (if you would call policies endorsed by the majority of Americans “revolutionary”) is confronting and embracing a willingness to see Donald Trump in the White House. But if we play our cards right and keep ourselves organized, there can be a good chance that neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton will set foot at 1600 Penn.
#SteinSanders
Our collective frustration with rigged elections has become momentum that must keep moving. The plan so far if Bernie loses the Democratic Nomination for many is to stay home or write Bernie Sanders in on Election Day (60,000 strong on the #BernieOrBust pledge). That people are so vested in Bernie Sanders is commendable, but we should instead plan to elect this country’s first woman president, Dr. Jill Stein, whose platform strongly resembles Bernie Sanders’. And we ought to do everything we can to bring Bernie himself with us. But if he will not come, our allegiance is ultimately to a movement which has no place for Neoliberalism or those who want to get a Neoliberal elected (which Bernie Sanders becomes if he endorses Hillary Clinton). We already know that the platform we seek will be on the ballot no matter what happens with the Democrats.
You may recognize Jill Stein from the 2012 ballot, where she ran as the Green nominee. As a physician, she got into politics after realizing that diagnosing and prescribing only goes so far; the political environment was causing problems she could not solve. Like Bernie, Jill Stein is Jewish, a Democratic Socialist, and has been arrested for protesting. Her presidency would be more historic than both Hillary Clinton’s and Bernie Sanders’. She is also the only candidate right now who would abolish existing student loan debt. “If you allowed young people to know that there’s actually a campaign to cancel their debt and that the president has the power to do that without Congress, that would be 40 million votes right there for the Green Party,” she says optimistically. Dr. Stein centers her platform on a Green New Deal, creating hundreds of thousands of new sustainable energy jobs in order to green our economy with renewable energy by 2030. Dr. Stein already sees herself and the Green Party as Plan B for Bernie supporters; she’s even stated her openness to being in his administration.
Vice President Bernie Sanders
Just think of Bernie Sanders as Vice President. I love Bernie and it is not derogatory to highlight his ability to draw large crowds, unite people from unexpected places, and sincerely represent the values he holds so deeply. Nor does it take away his presidential qualities to suggest that he would be a phenomenal spokesperson for the policies he is already advocating. Under Jill Stein’s eloquent and well-spoken wing, he would refine some specific details of his platform, fill in holes, and not have to answer to the Democratic establishment. Importantly, as Jews, a Stein-Sanders administration could raise some important questions regarding Israel and Palestine without appearing anti-Semitic.
As far as dividing the “democratic” party and risking a Trump presidency, it is well worth it. Listen, both Democrats and Republicans hate Donald Drumpf. Congress would obstruct everything he tries to do more than it has with President Obama. It would only take a single term for people to wake up and realize we have checks and balances, and that a sociopath with an allergy to the truth cannot build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. As for other Republicans: Ted Cruz brings the same issues, though arguably more dangerous with support for his theocratic goals, and John Kasich actually has a heart and at least half a brain.
“If you allowed young people to know that there’s actually a campaign to cancel their debt and that the president has the power to do that without Congress, that would be 40 million votes right there for the Green Party.”
It is imperative right now to show Debbie Wasserman Schultz that we are done being played in the Lesser of Two Evils game. If the Republican Party decided to throw some money behind Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson, Former Republican Governor of New Mexico, and Bernie brought his supporters to the Greens as VP, we would have four competitive tickets that could gain enough votes to win the general election. (Too bad we don’t have ranked-choice voting, something Jill Stein advocates.) Even if this four-way election does not happen, we cannot stay home and simply not vote. And voting for Trump is not the answer either. Writing Bernie Sanders’ name in will not be enough, especially when he is telling us to do otherwise. As stated before, throwing his support behind Clinton would turn Bernie into the Establishment.
A final thought: People identifying as Democrat and Republican make up barely half of Americans; the other half are independents of some sort. If we actually voted to reflect that, instead of allowing the two dominant parties to get 98% of votes, we could show them we are done letting them control elections. Even if the Green Party received 5% of the vote, instead of less than a percent, it would be eligible for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund’s grant in 2020. Of course, the best chance we have for our movement is to keep voting for Bernie in the primaries, but we must be united with Jill Stein as our Plan B. And we must push our support for her now to get the media to take notice. Most importantly, we need Bernie Sanders himself to take notice: 1) there is plenty that he could learn from her anti-war platform and 2) he needs to join her ticket should he not get the Blue nomination. We are done letting corporations and billionaires wager us and win at our expense.
