While I look at the officially announced hopefuls for the 2016 Presidential election I thought it was time to start looking at candidates outside of the two big parties. For this post I will look at Green Party hopeful Jill Stein. Stein ran for President in 2012 as the Green Party candidate and hopes to do so again in 2016.
Like the other candidates I’ve looked at in this series I will focus on the issues listed on Jill Stein’s official campaign website. In this case she calls it her “Power to the People Plan“. Here are the eleven key parts to her plan:
A Green New Deal
Create millions of jobs by transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030, and investing in public transit, sustainable agriculture, and conservation.
As if the first New Deal wasn’t bad enough… My biggest question to Stein would be this: how do you plan to accomplish this green new deal without completely devastating the economy in the United States? All of this money to ‘invest’ in 100 % clean energy, public transit, sustainable ag, and conservation has to come from somewhere. The only way to do that at the federal level is take even more money from Americans via the IRS and use it to promote these favored special interest groups.
Plus, to her last two points. I have been paying pretty close attention to the ag industry in South Dakota and other parts of the Midwest. From what I’ve seen the ag industry is working hard from within to work on sustainable agriculture and conservation. Yes, they are also trying to get some of that public money (tax dollars); I wish that part would stop. But I find it odd that Stein believes farmers and ranchers are against long-term sustainability and conservation.
No, I don’t think a New Deal is needed. Instead it is time to get government out of the market, and let people deal with each other as they prefer in the free market.
Jobs as a Right
Create living-wage jobs for every American who needs work, replacing unemployment offices with employment offices. Advance workers rights to form unions, achieve workplace democracy, and keep a fair share of the wealth they create.
First, I believe it is NOT the job of the federal government to create jobs. And renaming an unemployment office to employment office is not going to change anything. The Green Party is a socialist party, and after reading this it makes be believe Stein would do away with the market altogether and have the government provide jobs for everyone. Apparently Stein is also looking at some communist aspects in her bid for the socialist Green Party ticket.
As far as forming unions? Unions that work with their members to promote their rights are just as strong now as they ever have been. The unions that have lost power are those that feel the needs of the union bosses go above those of the actual workers.
Workplace democracy? That to me sounds like advocating taking away all decision-making from the owners of a business. Entrepreneurs would never risk undertaking a new business venture in such an environment. Unless this goes back to everyone working for the government…..
End Poverty
Guarantee economic human rights, including access to food, water, housing, and utilities, with effective anti-poverty programs to ensure every American a life of dignity.
I think fifty years of the War on Poverty failures has been enough to show that centrally planned poverty reduction interventions do not work. Instead of a War on Poverty it has turned into more of a War on the Poor. It appears Stein would double-down on decades of failed policy.
Health Care as a Right
Establish an improved “Medicare For All” single-payer public health insurance program to provide everyone with quality health care, at huge savings.
During the 2014 US Senate race in South Dakota we had a candidate that promoted his Medicare E for everyone single-payer solution. It didn’t work for him. I don’t see it working for Jill Stein either. Obamacare has shown that more intervention in the payment portion of medical care does not fix problems. Advocating even more government intervention would be a cost this country simply cannot afford.
Education as a Right
Abolish student debt to free a generation of Americans from debt servitude. Guarantee tuition-free, world-class public education from pre-school through university. End high stakes testing and public school privatization.
Ok, I do agree with Jill Stein on ending high stake testing. But other than that she is advocating a complete public take-over of higher education. The costs of higher education have risen dramatically since the federal government started subsidizing it. The more in student aid that is authorized in DC, the more tuition continues to rise. I fail to see how giving these higher learning institutions direct access to taxpayer dollars will slow that trend down.
Yes, too many Americans are in debt due to out of control student loans. But this is a case that appears to be caused by the actions of politicians in DC. Giving those same politicians in DC even more power to destroy higher education funding just doesn’t seem wise.
A Just Economy
Set a $15/hour federal minimum wage. Break up “too-big-to-fail” banks and democratize the Federal Reserve. Reject gentrification as a model of economic development. Support development of worker and community cooperatives and small businesses. Make Wall Street, big corporations, and the rich pay their fair share of taxes. Create democratically run public banks and utilities. Replace corporate trade agreements with fair trade agreements.
There is a hodgepodge of issues here from Jill Stein. If I get the chance to speak with Stein I would like to ask what she means by “democratize the Federal Reserve”. Other left-leaning politicians have been afraid to speak ill of the Federal Reserve since Obama gained the Presidential office. Is she willing to support auditing the Fed and possibly make some changes based upon those audits?
Here again I see Stein promoting government takeover of the private section by creating “democratically run public banks and utilities”. The libertarian in me is screaming from reading that.
As a last point I do agree that corporate trade agreements are bad. The two big ones being negotiated in secret right now, TPP and TTIP, have large special interest groups involved; and no involvement from the American public. I do wonder however how Stein would define “fair trade agreements”.
Protect Mother Earth
Lead on a global treaty to halt climate change. End destructive energy extraction: fracking, tar sands, offshore drilling, oil trains, mountaintop removal, and uranium mines. Protect our public lands, water supplies, biological diversity, parks, and pollinators. Label GMOs, and put a moratorium on GMOs and pesticides until they are proven safe. Protect the rights of future generations.
The only talking point from Stein I will talk about here is GMOs. I know many are against them and want any product with GMOs to be labeled accordingly. I have a different suggestion. Currently any product that is GMO-free has to go through a lot of red-tape to get labeled as GMO-free. Instead of forcing all GMO products to label as such, why not just allow more GMO-free foods the freedom to label appropriately and let the people decide.
The rest of Stein’s talking points in this section fit in with her earlier talking points about having the government take over the economy and erode private property rights. I would prefer a candidate that can see the various ways the free market will actually choose environmentally safe goods and services, provided they are not mandated or subsidized by politicians and bureaucrats.
Freedom and Equality
End police brutality, mass incarceration and institutional racism within our justice system. Expand women’s rights, protect LGBT people from discrimination, defend indigenous rights and lands, and create a welcoming path to citizenship for immigrants. Protect the free Internet, replace drug prohibition with harm reduction, and legalize marijuana/hemp.
As to Stein’s points about the justice system and prohibition: Yes! It is time to stop putting people in jail for victim-less crimes. Even those against the use of mind-altering drugs (including me) need to realize that the War on Drugs has done nothing but put millions of people in prison and made society less safe overall. I support Stein in that talking point.
But… ‘Protect the free Internet’. I have a feeling she means that in order to protect free speech on the Internet it means the government must take it over. Once the Internet is taken over by one source it will no longer be a haven for free speech. At that time regulations will begin, and free speech will suffer.
Justice for All
Restore our Constitutional rights, terminate unconstitutional surveillance and unwarranted spying, end persecution of government and media whistleblowers, close Guantanamo, abolish secret kill lists, and repeal indefinite detention without charge or trial.
Jill Stein is perfect in this section! There is nothing I disagree with her on in this section. I do have apprehension when politicians make the above statements though. Most of the talking points Stein uses in this section were promises made by Obama when he campaigned to become President… That didn’t work out so well.
Peace and Human Rights
Establish a foreign policy based on diplomacy, international law, and human rights. End the wars and drone attacks, cut military spending by at least 50% and close the 700+ foreign military bases that are turning our republic into a bankrupt empire. Stop U.S. support and arms sales to human rights abusers, and lead on global nuclear disarmament.
Wow, two sections in a row that I completely agree with Jill Stein on. The wars and drone attacks are refreshing to hear Stein talk about. Back in the Bush years I marched alongside many liberals that were standing up to the many wars. For some reason those marches stopped when Obama stepped into office… because these wars were different? Even though I disagree with Stein on most of her political policies, I would like to see someone like Stein reach office that truly believed it was time to stop foreign wars and drone strikes. I don’t think any politician in the two big parties would ever do so.
Empower the People
Abolish corporate personhood. Protect voters’ rights by establishing a constitutional right to vote. Enact electoral reforms that break the big money stranglehold and create truly representative democracy: public campaign financing, ranked-choice voting, proportional representation, and open debates.
Well, if Jill Stein is willing to stop ending corporate taxes in all forms, then maybe it will be easier to talk about ending corporate personhood.
I still don’t understand how a lot of people on the left believe giving politicians direct access to taxpayer money in the guise of public campaign financing will end corruption. But I do support Jill Stein in her push for open debates. I actually enjoyed covering the third-party debates during the 2012 presidential elections. Stein in particular was quite enjoyable to cover, and not because I agreed with her. Actually I found her to be wrong on almost all issues. But at least she was willing to go outside of the carefully planned cookie-cutter talking points that both big parties utilize. I believe if there were truly open debates in the US we would see a greater variety of candidates actually make it into office. That would be truly empowering to the people!
Conclusion
As a libertarian I find no surprise in the fact that I agree with Jill Stein on very few issues. I find her socialism intermixed with certain communist theories to be a harmful prospect for the US. But I do hope a lot of people in the US are able hear her message, and that of other third-party candidates. At least with candidates such as Stein we are hearing ideas and concepts that the main parties refuse to allow into debates.
The post Jill Stein’s Power to the People plan in her bid for President appeared first on SoDakLiberty.
