For those considering voting for Hillary Clinton in a effort to stop Donald Trump from becoming president,
I suggest you watch this segment of today's "Democracy Now" featuring Green Party candidate Jill
Stein:
For those considering voting for Hillary Clinton in a effort to stop Donald Trump from becoming president,
I suggest you watch this segment of today's "Democracy Now" featuring Green Party candidate Jill
Stein:
Jill Stein is a perfectly nice person with all the right ideas. Voting her for President? Well, hey, why not vote for me? I'm a perfectly nice person with all the right ideas. Downside, of course, is that (a) I'd be a lousy President, way in over my head, and (b) you might as well fold your ballot into a paper airplane, for all the good it would do. The dream that voting Green-for-President will somehow send a message and result in radical change in 2060 is, IMHO, absurd. They should have either worked within the Democratic Party, as the Teabaggers did with the Repubs, or worked to build a low-level coalition, rather than just running a Presidential candidate up the flagpole every four years. Granted, I may be utterly ignorant of what the Greens have been doing, but if that's the case, it's a sign the Greens have a problem in public awareness.
Valley Oak
06-19-2016, 08:35 PM
I totally get what you're saying and I agree, somewhat.
That said, I voted for Bernie Sanders in the California primary against Hillary. Unlike most "Berners," I don't hold that much against her. And I will be voting for Hillary this November if she does indeed officially (not presumptively) win the nomination next month in July at the Democratic National Convention. And in all likelihood, that is exceedingly and probably what is going to happen.
Additionally, in the 2008 POTUS contest, in the California primary, I voted for Hillary against Obama, believing that she was well established, experienced, etc, while Obama I had not even heard of until late 2007/early 2008; a newcomer and a totally unexpected upstart by any standard. In November 2008, I was thrilled to cast my vote for the first African-American president in US history.
I think that the person who started this thread was more interested in making a statement about electoral reform, which America's highly undemocratic, two-party system sorely needs yester-century. Ranked Choice Voting (aka Instant Runoff Voting) is an excellent way to vote for WHOMEVER you truly want to see in the White House without fear of spoiling the election and giving it to the WORST possible candidate. RCV or IRV completely evaporate the threat of a spoiler candidate, which is always the argument against voting Green.
With RCV/IRV, you can rank your first choice, "1," for Jill Stein; rank Hillary Clinton "2," and so on. If there is no one else that you can stomach seeing as POTUS, then you stop ranking candidates at that point.
Furthermore, there are other electoral practices that the Europeans have been using for many decades, such as Proportional Representation and a multi-party system. That would seriously revolutionize American politics.
Jill Stein is a perfectly nice person with all the right ideas. Voting her for President? Well, hey, why not vote for me? ....