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TWO OF THE biggest set-piece events of the US political cycle are over for another year – with the country’s main parties selecting two of the most divisive candidates for the presidency in recent history, at their respective conventions.
And while it’s all but certain that either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will win November’s general election – it’s worth noting that there are a number of other candidates in the race for the White House.
Third (or fourth) party candidates haven’t had much of an impact on the race in the last few elections – at least, not since businessman Ross Perot claimed 19% of the popular vote back in 1992.
However, considering that so many voters are finding it difficult to countenance voting for either the Republican or Democrat candidate this time around, some political pundits reckon that could all change this year.
Gary Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico running under the Libertarian banner, was polling at 13% in a recent CNN poll, and is in with a chance of at least making an appearance at the marquee TV debates in the weeks before polling day.
And this week the Green Party’s Jill Stein – who’s polling in the single digits, but rising – made a passionate pitch for the votes of Bernie Sanders supporters, in a street rally outside the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
Jill who?
66-year-old Stein – a physician from Chicago – is making her second tilt at the presidency after winning around half a million votes in 2012.
A Harvard graduate with a long history of environmental activism, she was an elected official on the Lexington Town Meeting in Massachusetts between 2005 and 2011.
According to her website, Stein “became aware of the links between toxic exposures and illness emerging in the 1990s”.
From her biog:
She began to fight for a healthy environment as a human right, assisting non profits, community groups and Native Americans combating environmental injustice and racism in dangerous exposures like lead and mercury in air and water pollution, incinerators and landfills, toxic waste sites and more.
A serial electoral candidate – amongst other campaigns, she’s taken on Mitt Romney for the Massachusetts state governorship (Romney won that one).
So far, Stein is on the ballot in 23 states for this year’s election – and is appealing for help getting herself included elsewhere (Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, is the only contender outside of the two main parties to make it onto the ballot in all 50 states).
What’s she campaigning on?
Stein’s 12 key platform points cover everything from green jobs (no surprise there) to the economy and justice. For instance, she’d like to create “millions” of new jobs by transitioning to clean renewable energy by 2030 and “investing in public transit, sustainable agriculture, and conservation”.
Away from green issues, she also wants to break up “too big to fail” banks, end mass incarceration, expand women’s rights, “terminate unconstitutional surveillance” and end drone attacks.
No surprise then that she’s proving an attractive candidate for some liberal voters finding it difficult to come to terms with the fact that a certain senator from Vermont is no longer in the race.
The Bernie factor
Stein spent three days in and around the Democrat convention venue in Philadelphia this week, making a pitch for the votes of disaffected supporters of Bernie Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist who lost out on the party’s nomination to Clinton.
“Your campaign lost in a rigged primary system with the Democratic National Committee and the corporate media in collusion with Hillary’s campaign,” she told a crowd of Sanders backers holding ‘Bernie or Bust’ placards, according to the Washington Times.
Do not go back into that campaign that has betrayed this movement.
Hundreds braved poor weather to attend her events, the Times reported. And, to an extent, the message seems to be working.
“I’ll never vote for Hillary, I’ll vote for Jill Stein,” 66-year-old John Delahanty told AFP in Philadelphia this week.
To vote for the lesser of two evils is really a wasted vote. You’re not helping the democracy by doing that.
Patty Duffy, marching through the city with thousands of others in support of environmental policies, said she too was ready to cast her lot in with Stein and the Greens.
“I’m not scared of Trump, period,” Duffy insisted. ”I’m more scared of her [Clinton].”
We are no longer the Democratic Party we thought we were… We’ve got to go for somebody with principles.
Earlier this month The Guardian asked former Sanders backers how they planned to vote in November. 171 of 375 respondents said they intended to support Stein, more than double the number who said they would back Clinton.
That sample’s not necessarily reflective of a wider trend, however: a Pew poll found that 85% of Sanders supporters would opt for Hillary in the general election.
Some more left-leaning voters will no doubt be mindful of the impact Green candidate Ralph Nader had on the outcome of the 2000 election – when it’s claimed Nader’s presence on the ballot in Florida deprived Democrat Al Gore of the presidency (debate is still raging on that issue, it should be stressed).
Includes reporting from AFP.
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If only they had 216 parties like Ireland, the world would be a better place
maybe we should send them over a few
Ireland ranks better than America in Education, healthcare, standard of living, employment standards, food standards etc… Americas 2 party system has failed, too long are the people of America subjected to choosing between a giant douche and a turd sandwich.
Sanders had the common sense to join the Democrats as the only viable way to get a shot at being POTUS. Stein is a serial failed candidate who is way too left for the majority of voters to countenance. Sure, she will get votes and impact Hillary in some states, but it’s a wasted vote.
The Democrats represent the interests of capital and any POTUS selected within the party will do the same. Sanders is fully aware of this and his “common sense” ultimately resulted in a betrayal of the magnificent mass movement which lifted him on to its shoulders. Stein is the only candidate left who in any way represents the interests of the majority working class.
so bernie would have turned down the nomination?
Which part did you not understand tommy troll?
you are not ment to be understood, its jut lefty drivel, you are for laughing at :D
play nice tommy or its the wooden spoon for you again
Ah, there’s Wally, talking betrayl again. The majority of the majority working class won’t be voting for Jill. No amount of whining and rhetoric is going to change that.
Why the name change – did u get banned Wally?
A vote against Hillary is a vote against corporate America.Hooooooooo-Yaaaaaaaaaw.
Jurgen,
Why are you the resident shill for Clinton on the Journal unless you have vested interest in the outcome?
The working class are beginning to wake up as the Sanders revolt and Corbyn in the U.K have demonstrated. But as long as the U.S. working class keep voting for the Democrats and the Republicans, the longer they will continue to be exploited.
I’ll let Chris Hedges explain it to you with some more eloquent rhetoric:
“Sanders, like all of the self-identified liberals who are whoring themselves out for the Democrats, will use fear as the primary reason to remain enslaved by the neoliberal assault. And, in return, the corporate state will allow him and the other useful idiots among the 1 percent to have their careers and construct pathetic monuments to themselves.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will be pushed through whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is president. The fracking industry, fossil fuel industry and animal agriculture industry will ravage the ecosystem whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is president. The predatory financial institutions on Wall Street will trash the economy and loot the U.S. Treasury on the way to another economic collapse whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is president. Poor, unarmed people of color will be gunned down in the streets of our cities whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is president. The system of neoslavery in our prisons, where we keep poor men and poor women of color in cages because we have taken from them the possibility of employment, education and dignity, will be maintained whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is president. Millions of undocumented people will be deported whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is president. Austerity programs will cut or abolish public services, further decay the infrastructure and curtail social programs whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is president. Money will replace the vote whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is president. And half the country, which now lives in poverty, will remain in misery whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton becomes president.”
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_1_percents_useful_idiots_20160726
Wally, commenting on the journal does not influence the outcome of elections. It does not make up for the simpe lack of electoral success for Stein, the AAA or others. My vote for Hillary in November is the only display of ‘vested interest’ that matters, commenting on this and other fora is just that, commenting.
You never told me when these movements likely to achieve power rather than just be protest movements. So what is the next step after they have ‘woken up’, when are they going to take power. Any idea or timeframe Wally? Could it be that you’re not that confident at all about them getting power?
Please tell us about your name change – maybe you were banned because of evil capitalist vested interests cause you’re such a threat, right.
Wally knowing your type you’d set up a 5th party as the 3rd and 4th weren’t left enough for your personal taste. People’s front of judean etc. Jurgen the level of hate you portray makes me sick, I just ask you refrain from setting up an irish KKK as nobody wants that
No 2, setting up KKK? Hate? Where have I expressed hate for black people? Please explain that to me as that is just ridiculous. Questioning the credibility or electability of socialist candidates is not hate, it’s just an opinion.
And If I’m displaying such a level of hate as you claim how come you don’t level the same accusation at the commenters directing their bile against Trump or Hillary? Or are you as desperate as Wally.
Jurgen 2 days ago you were arguing for white supremacy. It’s not uncommon for someone endorsing white supremacy to be a racist.
Where? What comment was that? Seriously, link me to it.
No 2 that is a serious accusation to make. Please back it up, i never made any such comment.
We have to love the great Jill Stein, she is going to peel votes from Clinton!!
A serious accusation? The person has to be real & public for the accusation to be serious. You sir are anonymous and thus me calling you a racist or a rapist for that matter has no effect on nothing.
Link me to the comment and article please. You are a liar. I never said such a thing no 2. You can’t even admit to lying then? How come you can’t tell me what article I supposedly made these comments?
The teenage brain is binary: if you disagree with him you are a “resident shill for Clinton”.
There is no room for dissent.
She’s a very weak candidate and any votes for anyone other than HRC means a higher likelihood of Hair Furor and his minions winning. Don’t vote for Jill Stein – learn about her platform here: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2016/07/27/jill_stein_is_not_the_savior_the_left_is_looking_for.html
The owners of the slate donated to hilary clinton in droves. The slate is pretty much Clinton state news. Their bias is eclipsing
How is it out of a population of 350 million Americans this choice seems unhealthy and so limited. Between Donald’s taxes and Hillary obvious mental impairments it’s possible many Americans have already turn off and will refuse to vote for either candidate. It’s a media circus more about building a brand or hero worship than Explaining how America moves forward and deals with it’s domestic injustices. Watching two elderly polished billionaires calling each other names, baiting there audiences with populist nonsense to watch them explode with joy. It’s a two horse race for president, whoever wins will have done so by holding there party together. Will the party system itself survive, has the race to the bottom finally reached the floor.
That’s it, throw your vote away. This is the news that Biff Tanner was hoping to hear. Not only will she not get elected, but you’re ensuring the worst case scenario does!
Yeah, waste your vote on the candidate you want to win!
Liam your whole comment summarises perfectly what’s wrong with American politics. All these regressive fearmongers forcing people into voting for the lesser evil rather than who they think is best for the job. If Stein splits the Clinton vote then so be it. Maybe it will finally cop the democrats onto the idea the 2 party system has failed.
Go green or go home
Potential to be the Ralph Nader of 2016.
Re the opening sentence: the two main U.S. parties’ national conventions are over for another four years, not merely for “another year”!
Ok this stuff here is the type of stuff that’s not making me happy about voting. As of 2020 I’m be able to vote but like I’m confused on some much already. Like I’m for the environment and everything , I’m for creating more jobs , but I’m also a supporter of the LGBT community and with this election I really don’t who to support but I not for Trump ( I know most ppl gonna bash me I don’t care) like somebody please help me out here cause I’m planning on going to college in my home state and I’m requiby my parents to vote but which party to I do I go cause right I’m confused for real.
Seriously No2 you need to back up the claim re jurgen with a link
have your say