There are historic moments wherein the political and economic conditions of everyday life seem to cry out for someone to embody them and herald a new understanding of the world. This is one of those moments. Jill Stein is not that somebody.
It may seem silly to even mention Jill Stein considering how much of a political nonfactor she is. She has never held an elected position higher than a town seat, even after running twice for governor of Massachusetts. The Greens will lose, as they have in every election, by significant and pathetic margins. Far from providing a meaningful alternative, the Green Party, and their apparently irreplaceable standard bearer Stein, simply farm protest votes and suck up government allotted election money. This money is spent, in turn, on making sure the Greens continue to cross the threshold and keep the money flowing so they can continue to run for President, apparently the only office they are ever interested in.
Outsider status is not a disqualifying factor in politics, both in the mainstream and in left-wing circles. But it is truly galling how rife with opportunists the Green Party is. Instead of recruiting and running on a local level, where elections can be won, and the lives of citizens can be meaningfully changed, they insist on only aiming for the biggest prize every time, promising the world and grafting themselves onto anyone who had conducted serious organizing.
The latest of these serious organizing pushes is the movement for Palestinian lives and a ceasefire in Gaza. This war provided Stein with the fantastic opportunity to capitalize on the waves of Palestinian solidarity activism that have been in frustration about the circumstances in Gaza, the West Bank, and now Lebanon, and she has engaged them as tactlessly and shallowly as you would expect. Putting aside Stein’s shallow roots and lack of credibility in the movement, she does not seem to harbor her ideological opposition to genocidal dictators responsible for the killings of Syrians and Ukrainians, such as Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad, as she cozies up with them, hesitant to call them war criminals despite the atrocities of genocide and displacement committed. Morally, you cannot be willing to vote for Stein due to her opposition to the killing of Palestinian children since she is delighted to support and defend governments who have killed Syrian children.
Unfortunately, the zero-sum nature of American elections means Stein’s antics are far from harmless. Her love of the spotlight has led her to specifically target Arab Americans — a crucial group of voters who, in light of recent events, tend to cast their ballots based on conscience — thus taking advantage of their moral concerns and anguish in efforts to boost her brand. If the Greens want to be taken seriously, they need to stop running for president and start running for city council. Until then, only two candidates have a chance of winning, and Jill Stein is not one of them.
