I’m pretty vehemently anti-Stein, and very pro-vax, but in fairness, I don’t see how you can read her answer in that AMA and conclude Stein is anti-vax. There’s a lot to criticize there: weaselly answer, apparent support for total woo (homeopathy), and general inarticulateness. Go crazy, there’s a goldmine there. But she doesn’t take an anti-vaccine position. In fact, her position seems to be: people should get more vaccines, there should be exemptions for medical reasons, and the vaccines and the exemptions process should be gated by impartial experts.
Yeah. Outside of a few bastions of liberalism, ( My town is one of them btw) the Greens only act as a spoiler.
I think my town’s Greens have served us well. However, I also realize what happens when a Green runs for any office higher than County Commissioner. They either split the left-wing vote with the Dem, putting the Republican in office. Or, they are an irrelevant also-ran.
The Greens are the second party in San Francisco, the biggest opposition party to the Democrats. Still, though, they can’t elect anybody outside of city council.
Looks like the highest office ever held by the Green Party is a state rep position; once in the Maine state legislature (2002) and once in the Arkansas state legislature (2008 - although he almost immediately switched to Democrat after taking office).
Also, Audie Bock was elected to the California Assembly as a Green in 1999, but switched to the Democratic Party in 2000. Audie Bock - Wikipedia
Thanks for checking my work. I read a characterization of it at wikipedia, skimmed the Reddit link, saw red, and added it to my list. Here’s what she said: [INDENT][INDENT] In the US, however, regulatory agencies are routinely packed with corporate lobbyists and CEOs. So the foxes are guarding the chicken coop as usual in the US. So who wouldn’t be skeptical? [/INDENT][/INDENT] BUT she goes on to say: [INDENT][INDENT]Vaccines in general have made a huge contribution to public health. Reducing or eliminating devastating diseases like small pox and polio. In Canada, where I happen to have some numbers, hundreds of annual death from measles and whooping cough were eliminated after vaccines were introduced. Still, vaccines should be treated like any medical procedure–each one needs to be tested and regulated by parties that do not have a financial interest in them. In an age when industry lobbyists and CEOs are routinely appointed to key regulatory positions through the notorious revolving door, its no wonder many Americans don’t trust the FDA to be an unbiased source of sound advice. A Monsanto lobbyists and CEO like Michael Taylor, former high-ranking DEA official, should not decide what food is safe for you to eat. Same goes for vaccines and pharmaceuticals. [/INDENT][/INDENT] Honestly, that’s not great. One is left with the impression that vaccines should be trusted in Canada, but not in the US. Or rather, some unnamed people might think that. Her claims are horsepucky, misleading, unhelpful. But I have to retract the claim that she’s anti-Vax per se pending a better citation. Maybe she’s more fairly characterized as an anti-Vax panderer.
I’ve wondered what a Democratic version of Donald Trump might look like. I think Jill Stein provides a reasonable thought experiment. Hypothetically, who would I vote for if the choices were D: Jill Stein, R: Romney, Lib: Ron Paul, Green: Rush Holt? If it were 1988, I’d choose Romney. If the Republican Congress embraced compromise like the founding fathers intended, I’d choose Romney, especially if they denounced economic and scientific crackpottery moving forward. Otherwise, I’d seriously consider a half vote for Romney by voting for Rush Holt. I can’t see myself voting for Trump/Stein.
Really? Who bankrolled the Constitution Party?
The Greens are amateurish and a bit silly, but I think a dedicated leftist party could be useful. Sure, they annoy Democrats and pull votes away from them, but that’s a good response to politicians who think the left can taken for granted. No, Gore didn’t really deserve that in 2000. But in general, it’s a valid strategy for certain causes, particularly given the tendency of some politicians to fart in the faces of Democratic constituents and mock them with, “Where else are you going to go!?”
Stein has an overly optimistic view of the President’s power over the Federal Reserve. She’s talking about getting the Fed to do a kind of quantitative easing. Not a bad idea, hard to get an independent body of bankers to do.
But this objection is silly. She’s talking about creating money through the Fed, actually.
That said, if she actually won on that plank, I suppose even the Fed would see which way the wind was blowing, and after* years* of much yelling and screaming, do some version of her quantitative easing proposal.
Exactly. I expect a lot of Republicans–and I mean officeholders–will denounce Clinton in public and then secretly vote for her, because they think they can do better business in opposition to HRC than in the same party as a loose cannon in the White House.
I think some of the leadership are still hoping that they can push around Trump if he wins. But a GOP Congressman chosen at random? I doubt it.
I don’t know how many Democrats will vote for Trump just to see the back of Hillary Clinton. But there’s a subset of progressives who are going to be in conflict with either Clinton or Trump. Is it better to split the party fighting its leader, or just let her not be leader? Trump may be crazy enough to make this an unattractive gambit, though.
Can you name a single Green who voted for the authorization to use military force?
MfM, since you’re using the standard “anti-science” slurs against Dr Stein, and you think someone who claims he’ll abolish income taxation is “sane,” I think we can discount your judgment on this matter.
But thanks for acknowledging that she’s not anti-vax, she just seems to have to pander to the woo side of her party.
Every person who voted for Ralph Nader instead of Al Gore in 2000.
So you agree with the anti-science assessment?
Yep. *They *are responsible for the worst eight years in recent US History.
Voters who decided to play chicken by voting for a joke candidate don’t deserve some blame for failing to swerve at the last possible moment?
Raises hand sheepishly. I won’t make that mistake again.
Though in my defense, I voted in California, knowing it wouldn’t matter, but it definitely mattered in Florida.
Not single-handedly, but yeah, they share a big part of the blame.
So what are voters who voted for Pat Buchanan?
Mostly elderly Florida Jews confused by the butterfly ballot.
Well, not really. The people responsible are all of those who put party loyalty, or personal spite or other frivolity, ahead of country, or just couldn’t be bothered, and failed to vote for Gore. Nader voters are a small subset of the total.