07/20/2024
1. When I hear people say that if more people had voted for Democratic Candidate ______, then candidate _______ would have beaten the Republican candidate. What does that say? It says that the democratic candidate is entitled to my vote. I do not know about you, buy NO ONE is entitled to my vote. I take my voting rights seriously, and a candidate has to EARN my vote. I supported the Democrats for years, only to be repeatedly disappointed. And their allegiance to corporate donors instead of the voters has only gotten worse over the years.
2. People state that voters selecting the Green Party candidate lost the elections for the Democrats in 2000 and 2016. Al Gore lost in 2000 and Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 due to their own errors. Gore lost to dim-witted George W. Bush. Really?! Gore could not beat Bush decisively? That says something about the way Gore ran an unsuccessful campaign. Intelligent, politically-experienced Clinton lost to the idiotic Trump in 2016. Really?! I mean, really?!! Clinton lost due to her lack of connecting with the blue-collar working population and her hawkish foreign policy. Her campaign deficiencies are the fault of the Green Party? Definitely not.
3. I have voted Green since 1996, the first time Ralph Nader ran with the Greens. I have no regrets for voting Green then or ever since. Ralph Nader has done more for the rights and safety of American citizens in his lifetime than any politician.
4. The Democrats talk about the “end of democracy” if Trump wins, and how the Democrats are the ‘saviors’ of democracy. Yet the Democrats are playing dirty games trying to throw the Greens off the ballot in Nevada and other states even though the Greens met the state requirements legally to get on the ballot, as well as other dirty tactics (https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/green-party-qualifies-for-2024-ballot-in-nevada-dem-lawsuit-pending and https://www.gp.org/ftvact). Seems like the Democrats do not really believe in true democratic choice for the voters.
5. Remember when Ross Perot and his running mate participated in the 1992 presidential debates? The League of Women Voters used to host these debates without any partisan bias. The debate process is currently run by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD), composed solely of the Democratic and Republican Parties. In 2000, the CPD made the rule that in order to participate in national debates, candidates must garner at least 15% of public support across five national polls. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_on_Presidential_Debates) Why do you suppose they created this rule? Because they know other political parties will challenge and threaten their two-party hegemony. The two-party system wants to lock out any other viable choices for the American people to decide who are worthy to be our government leaders.
6. People say the Greens should start local and not jump into the national election process. The truth is that the Greens have been for years working to recruit and run candidates at the local and state levels in addition to the national level.
7. President Biden and many of the Democrats in Congress are supporting Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza. They are cowards to standing up against AIPAC, preferring to accept AIPAC’s campaign funds for re-election than condemn Israel’s crimes against humanity. I will not vote for anyone supporting this genocide.
8. People say this year’s election is too crucial for the Greens to run in the presidential election. Know what? I hear that excuse every four years. This is exactly what the Democrats want you to do…continually postpone any true challengers to their candidates. I have been voting since 1988. 36 years ago. So I am supposed to wait nearly four decades (or more) for true progressive change? That’s absurd! I am not getting any younger, and I would like to see Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, living wages, and other sweeping changes some time in my life, or at least know that my kids and grandkids will be on the receiving end of these efforts for radical change. I have already spent too much time voting for Democrats, expecting them to support such measures, only to be disappointed again and again by their inaction.
9. Keep voting for the Democrats and you will continue to receive the scraps of change from the table of legislation instead of the entire dish of advancement in healthcare, workers’ rights, peace-driven foreign policy and not wars, and other progressive measures Americans have been clamoring for over the past several decades.
10. Listen to the excuses people use to continue to support the corrupt two-party system. People have been convinced that the two parties are our only choices for leadership. Ridiculous! Americans are being played by these two fearmongering, corporate-enriched parties telling voters that you better vote for our party and not for that other terrible, disgusting party. Sadly, Americans could be reaching closer to having the lives we wish to have with better healthcare, workers’ rights, education, personal safety, and peaceful times if more people had the gumption to vote for the true candidates who will work to provide these improvements people are seeking in their lives. The saying goes that stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. The same can be said with stagnation.
Vote for whomever you wish to support. If you want to vote Democrat, vote Democrat. Just quit telling me that voting for the Green Party is a vote for Trump (or a wasted vote). I am voting for significant change and a different voice for our nation. You will not get the change you seek continuing to play along with the corrupt Democratic-Republican duopoly enriching themselves at our expense.
