Yes, you and millions of people in the United States — who oppose death and destruction, and who want real policies that help people and benefit the planet and peace — can safely vote for Jill Stein in November, and have NO WORRIES that your votes will help a candidate you oppose!
Here’s what Ralph Nader said in his book, Crashing the Party. It’s found in the chapter “The Super Rallies” which describes how Nader’s presidential campaign in 2000 filled Madison Square Garden and other arenas around the country, though media like this New York Times article buried the story on inside pages. Nader wrote:
“One woman, Carol Herwitz of Fall River, hit the perfect electoral note
that we hoped – in vain as it turned out – millions of people would do also,
when she said, ‘I like Ralph Nader a lot, I like what he stands for.
I don’t want to see the world run by corporations.
I think if it seems clear that Al Gore will take Massachusetts,
I’ll vote for Ralph Nader.’
There were forty states where either Gore or Bush was the foregone victor.
But few voters thought like Ms. Herwitz.”
To this day the made-up “spoiler” argument has continued to damage the hopes of a majority of people who want more than two big, deteriorating, corporate-and-billionaire funded political parties. Please tell me if you have changed your mind about the “Nader spoiler” issue. It will give me hope! “Spoiler” has proven to be a major piece of party propaganda that is at the level of Trump and Biden shamelessly declaring Cuba a “State Sponsor of Terrorism.”
A vote for Jill Stein is a vote for … Jill Stein! And for the values of people, planet and peace. Even if you disagree with the idea that you should always vote for the best candidate no matter what, still, especially in the states that are not “swing states” — red or blue — millions of people can vote for Jill Stein. In California, for example, whether a person votes for Jill Stein or even for Trump, 100% of California’s votes, in the form of electoral college votes, will go to one candidate, and the likelihood is overwhelming that they will go to the Democrat.
In all three presidential years, 2012, 2016, and 2020, in California two million voters could have “safely” voted for people, planet and peace — rather than war and Wall Street — by casting their votes for the Green Party candidate. The Democratic candidate still would have received all of California’s electoral college votes.
A vote for the “lesser of two evils” weakens the movement toward a better multi-party democracy that is more responsive to voters’ wishes. Over the years lesser-evil voting has enabled the two parties to keep getting worse, more aligned with the super rich billionaires and corporations than with the rest of us. On the other hand, when you vote for Jill Stein, you as an individual strengthen the movement toward the multi-party Proportional Representation system that more than 90 countries in the world already have. (To join the movement in California, see Pro-Rep Coalition.)
The United States is the richest country the world has ever known. Why does the US lack basic benefits that other nations provide? Especially other wealthy, industrialized nations (even others not as wealthy!) provide healthcare, free higher education, better mass transit, available housing, and the list goes on. The two parties and their candidates are unfortunately too easily bought out by big money, and those corporations and billionaires become their bosses. The number of votes Jill Stein receives across the country matters greatly.
Consider casting your vote for Jill Stein, to move us toward a better democracy, and a better world.
Related to Nader in 2000, to me the strongest argument against that oft-repeated “spoiler” charge is that the 2000 recount in Florida was showing that Gore would likely win the state (even more likely if Gore had fought on behalf of the huge number of Florida voters designated falsely as “felons” and prevented from even casting their votes). However, the Supreme Court took over, stopped the recount, and decided with a 5-4 vote along ideological lines that Bush would take the presidency.
The argument that it is safe to vote for Jill Stein inherently acknowledges we want the lesser of two evils to win. It does make a difference. Al Gore would not have pursued the Iraq war, which has been a disaster for the world. Hillary Clinton would have appointed dramatically different Supreme Court justices. This too would have made a big difference.
Thanks for your comment, Laura Stevens.
I would not say “we WANT the lesser of two evils to win”, but rather “given this undemocratic, locked-down two-party system, THE BEST WE CAN GET IS FOR the lesser of two evils to win.” More than 90 countries have Proportional Representation, which allows for other than two sold-out parties to exist.
As to the Supreme Court, the voting public should know about the Federalist Society, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federalist_Society. Here”s a 9-minute talk about it, and this doesn’t even mention that Obama had an open Supreme Court seat for a year without filling it, blaming the Republicans but not clearly calling them out publicly before Trump was elected. Very short: https://blackagendareport.com/index.php/obama-and-democrats-share-blame-trumps-supreme-court-0