"It's
outrageous that people should be struggling right now with this
questions of, 'Do I prefer a fascist or a warmonger?'"
Interview
by Zach Weissmueller
The 2016
presidential race features two of the most disliked candidates in
electoral history, which has given a boost not only to the
Libertarian Party's Gary Johnson, but to Jill Stein, a 66-year-old
Harvard-trained physician from Massachusetts who's running on the
Green Party ticket.
"We
have every reason to be terrified of Donald Trump in the White
House," says Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.
"But I don't think we should fool ourselves into thinking
that we should sleep well at night with Hillary Clinton in the White
House either. They're both dangerous and unacceptable in different
ways."
Stein is
currently polling at about 2 percent, trailing Gary Johnson, who is
on track to take about 4 percent of the popular vote. Stein, who sat
down last week for an interview with Reason, says this election year
presents an historic opportunity for third parties.
"This
is a realignment election," says Stein. "And you
have this marriage of the Democratic and Republican parties now. And
its important, I think, for Greens and Libertarians to be working
together right now to just break through this stranglehold and be
challenging them right out of the gate."
Stein says
that if only the U.S. were to adopt a new system of voting, Americans
wouldn't have to make this choice between voting their conscience or
the lesser of two evils.
Stein and
the libertarian Gary Johnson have a lot in common on topics like
foreign policy, marijuana legalization, and same-sex marriage. But on
economic issues, the two candidates couldn't be farther apart.
For
instance, Stein favors a single-payer health care system, which she
claims would cost taxpayers nothing. She also says she would pour
federal money into the clean energy sector and end our use of fossil
fuels by the year 2030.
Stein has
been battling the perception that the Green Party is anti vaccine
after she told the Washington Post that "there were real
questions that needed to be addressed. I think some of them at least
have been addressed. I don't know if all of them have been addressed"
with regards to small amounts of mercury once found in childhood
vaccines, despite a scientific consensus that there's never been a
link between vaccines and autism or any other serious health
problems.
Stein calls
the media coverage of her statements misleading and characterizes it
as the "birther" issue of this election, claiming that
she's only calling for reforms to the FDA, which she sees as
corrupted by lobbyists.
With the
election just days away, both Johnson and Stein's poll numbers are
slipping. One meaningful benchmark for both parties would be to win 5
percent of the popular vote. That would lead the Federal Election
Commission to confer the classification of "minor party,"
which means they'd get easier ballot access and be eligible for
matching public funds.
"It's
outrageous that people should be struggling right now with this
questions of, 'Do I prefer a fascist or a warmonger?'" says
Stein.
Full
interview:
Related:
Comments
Post a Comment