We have excellent opportunities to vote for the greater good rather than the lesser evil with third party presidential candidates in 2016. After going hear her speak at the Multigenerational Center in Burlington and doing some research my choice is Dr. Jill Stein. To that end I helped circulate a petition to get her on the ballot in Vermont, and I am happy to announce that we were successful in getting more than enough signatures and Jill Stein will be on the ballot. It is very important that the public is informed about all of their voting choices. I hope the media will give some attention to the third party candidates, but we can’t depend on it. Today it seems we are the media.
Dr. Jill Stein’s political experience is as a community organizer and advocate protecting people’s health, the environment, voting rights and justice. That’s how I would sum it up after reading www.jill2016.com/about. I judge her qualifications as very promising. Voters like myself feel disenfranchised by the election fraud that has happened so far and the actions of the DNC during the primaries. Jill Stein is a progressive candidate like Bernie on the issues. She often takes things further for instance, not only making college free but also canceling student debt.
I say let’s give all the support we can to Jill Stein’s campaign and see where she is six weeks from now. If she doesn’t have winnable support at that time I might not recommend people in swing states vote for her. I am hoping she can win this election, but even if she lost and made it to 15 percent that would be a step toward democracy, allowing a third party to more fully engage in runs for the presidential office.
I ask that voters become knowledgeable about all the candidates, especially their positions on the issues, and I hope the media will start doing their job and help us in this regard. There is also a libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson for voters to consider.
Bernie Sanders did not get as far as he did all by himself, he had many a Berner behind him, and if the spirit moves people they might get behind someone else. In a free democracy people don’t vote out of fear. Learn the options and vote your conscience, but just voting is not enough, it’s not nearly enough. It’s going to take a hell of a work crew to wrestle our government back into a democratic place, or maybe not back but forward into a more democratic place than we have ever been before.
Alice Eckles
Middlebury