Keeping in the same fashion as a previous article I wrote, "Who Is Gary Johnson," I want to explore our nation's "other options." As I have previously stated in my prior article, both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are supremely unliked, or rather hated – like hated to the depths of Dante's hell kind of hated. So, if you aren't following our Republican and Democratic nominees to November then I am here to remind that they are other options. As I stated before, one of our options is Gary Johnson who's running with the Libertarian party. Now, I want to focus on our other, other option, Dr. Jill Stein.
Jill Stein is our Green party candidate this election, as she also was back in the 2012 election. What is the Green party, you may ask? The Green party is just that - green. It bases its politics on such things as environmentalism, social justice and equality, and nonviolence in hopes to work towards a more peaceful world. So you could kind of say they're like the hippie archetype of all the political parties. Save the environment, save each other, save the world – that kind of thing. Members of the Green party first made their way into politics back in 1986 in a Wisconsin. From there on, Green members all over the country have gone on to be elected as county supervisors, mayors, state legislators,and presidential nominees, all in hopes of bettering their communities and the world around them.
So, now who exactly is Jill Stein? Jill Stein graduated from the prestigious Harvard University, having studied psychology, sociology, and anthropology. After she graduated in 1973 she then went to pursue medicine at Harvard Medical School, where she graduated in 1979. Jill went on to practice medicine for 25 years as well as instruct medical students at Harvard Med. While working as a doctor, Jill began to see the connection between people's health and their environment and began to participate in activism and environmental campaigns. Stein has solely and collaboratively published reports on how our environment and our relationship to it, greatly affect health. Jill's political career began in 2002 when she was recruited to run against Mitt Romney in the race for governor of Massachusetts. While she lost the election, from then on, Jill strived to become a prominent political figure in her community of Lexington, Massachusetts. Fast forward to 2011 and Stein announced that she would be running for president with the Green Party in the 2012 election. We all know who won that race, but now Jill is back running with the Green Party for the current 2016 election.
Running along Stein this political season is Ajamu Baraka. Baraka is a widely known human rights activist having worked and been a pristine member with the US Human Rights Network, as well the Institute for Policy Studies, Amnesty International, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Africa Action. When it comes to the issues, Stein and Baraka bring to us their "Power to the People Plan." On the campaign website Jill is quoted saying,
"This plan will end unemployment and poverty; avert climate catastrophe; build a sustainable, just economy; and recognize the dignity and human rights of everyone in our society and our world. The power to create this new world is not in our hopes, it’s not in our dreams - it’s in our hands."
To keep things relatively simple and summarized, Stein's key points of her plan include maintaining basic human rights, such as equality and freedom, abolish racial injustice, investing in renewable energy, and making healthcare, education, and jobs a "right: for the people. I believe that what makes Jill Stein different is not only that, as a Green Party candidate, she represents and strives for serious work towards protecting and preserving our Earth, as well as focusing very strongly on issues that affect everyday people such as the inability to afford an education, decent health care because of the lack of good paying jobs. There is a long, more detailed explanation of Stein's goals and ideas for her prospected presidency on the platform page for her campaign site.
Like I wrote previously in my article on Libertarian presidential hopeful Gary Johnson, I really encourage readers to do their own research and find more information on a candidate. The decision on who to vote for this upcoming November is a big and will, undoubtedly, provide interesting results no matter who wins. So, America, here's your other, other option – Dr. Jill Stein of Lexington, Massachusetts of the Green Party.
