OK, people, tell me when you last contemplated Jill Stein, perennial Green Party candidate for president.

“Y’all, this is a little spicy, but I have thoughts,” said Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a recent Instagram post criticizing Stein’s third attempt at running for president.

Truly, “a little spicy” and “Green Party candidate Jill Stein” do not often come up in the same sentence. Or paragraph. Or train of thought.

But this is the season when we start to fret a lot about third-party presidential candidates who could divert enough cranky voters from the real options to change the outcome of the election.

We will stop now for a moment to remember the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2000, Ralph Nader, who drained just enough support from Al Gore in Florida to tip the election to George W. Bush.

Or, um, Jill Stein. Whose presence on the ballot in a few swing states was just enough to keep Hillary Clinton from beating Donald Trump in 2016.

The danger isn’t nearly as great as it was a few months ago, when it looked like the race was going to be Biden-Trump and millions of depressed voters were wondering whether to write in the name of a close friend or, hey, George Clooney.

But still, you can never tell how things might get screwed up, particularly since any outcome not involving the election of Trump is going to lead to months of legal battles and protests.

So feel free to worry about Stein — or other presidential candidates, like Cornel West, whose only major achievement this time around has been not making the ballot in Pennsylvania.

They’re not exactly building a movement, and as Ocasio-Cortez said, if “all you do is show up every four years,” you really ought to be doing something else. Maybe running for a less ridiculous office, the way Ocasio-Cortez did when she knocked off an entrenched and deeply unthrilling House veteran in 2018.

Or sign up for a night-school class. Clean the basement. Reread “War and Peace.” The options are endless. Get a life.

https://archive.ph/Od5Iy

  • Roonerino [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    23·
    5 hours ago

    This author has almost definitely never read War and Peace, they just wanted to name drop a book that isn’t for children to sound smart.

    • mustGo [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      21·
      5 hours ago

      It’s really the smug “Reread” that desperately tries to flex about having already definitely read it. When everyone else would just say “Read War And Peace”.

  • josie@vegantheoryclub.orgEnglish
    38·
    6 hours ago

    We will stop now for a moment to remember the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2000, Ralph Nader, who drained just enough support from Al Gore in Florida to tip the election to George W. Bush.

    Al Gore got more votes than Bush though? He lost the election because the electoral college is fucking stupid.

  • Infamousblt [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    23·
    6 hours ago

    You know how some countries do that thing where you get an ink stain on your hand or forehead or wherever to show you voted?

    We should do that in the US too except instead of ink its the blood of all the Palestinian children that people voting for the Dems or the GOP will have on their hands. Make it a literal thing instead of a figurative thing.

    Get a life is the best comeback libs got? Folks I’m sorry to tell you but being called a nerd stopped hurting me like 20 years ago. Gonna have to do better than that

  • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    45·
    7 hours ago

    The entitlement lol

    Just assuming that if stein dropped out people would vote for a Democrat. Zero reflection on policy.

    Also can we stop fucking reliving 2016? Hillary blew that election, nobody else

  • DBVegas [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    35·
    9 hours ago

    They think if they just don’t mention PSL and Claudia that no one will vote for her, we need to keep elevating PSLs visibility as much as we can. Make them confront the reality that people are sick of capitalism and zionism.

    • anarchoilluminati [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      5·
      3 hours ago

      I’ve mentioned this before, as others have, but how come PSL doesn’t run local campaigns? Or do they and I just don’t know? I don’t think the Presidential campaign promotes them as much as people think or wish.

      I say this as someone who wants to like the PSL, but AOC is kinda right that it’s a ridiculous campaign in the vacuum of not simultaneously running for other, lower offices as well.

  • Evilphd666 [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    29·
    9 hours ago

    “a little spicy” and “Green Party candidate Jill Stein” do not often come up in the same sentence. Or paragraph. Or train of thought.

    Stein being spicy in her quibs has been going on since at least 2016. Thank you very much.

    Al Gore was billdawg"s VP and Billy boy had “the left” pissed off as fuck for screwing over labor and being a womanizing predator. So you had Clinton baggage attached to him. After the Democrats have now done all this work to rehabklitate Bush andn Cheney by becoming the party of Bush and Cheney this Nader blaming attack seems even more hollow.

    Speaking of Bush - his father was the head of the CIA and GW wasn’t elected - he was annoined by the Supreme Court. So fuck off.

    Then you had another Clinton hillgasm do this brillant Pied Piper Strategy of colluding with the media propping Trump up to make him viable. So inevitability they will rehabilitate Trump too as the ratchet effect continues and the Democrats go from the party of Clinton to the party of Bush and Cheney to the party of Trump.

    Each stage is the Democrats pushing away from the left, propping up the right, then moving right under protest of the left, then blaming the left when they inevitability lose elections for not following the Democrats off a fascist cliff.

    Deeeeeeply unserious. clown

    • InevitableSwing [none/use name]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      31·
      10 hours ago

      Prompt: 𝚊 𝟹𝟻𝟶 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚙𝚢𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚊-𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚘𝚙-𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚍 - 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚍-𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚢 𝙲𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎? 𝙶𝚎𝚝 𝚊 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎.

      • Evilphd666 [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        23·
        8 hours ago

        I put it in Bing’s co-pilot and pretty close…

        maybe-later-honey maybe-later-kiddo

        Considering a Third-Party Candidate? Get a Life

        Alright, let’s get real for a moment. You’re thinking about voting for a third-party candidate? Seriously? Get a life. I mean, sure, it sounds noble and all, casting your vote for someone who aligns perfectly with your ideals. But let’s face it, in the grand scheme of things, it’s like trying to win a marathon by riding a unicycle. It’s just not going to happen.

        First off, let’s talk numbers. The U.S. political system is a two-party behemoth. It’s been that way for centuries. The Democrats and Republicans have the infrastructure, the money, and the voter base. A third-party candidate? They barely have a podium to stand on. Your vote for them is like throwing a pebble into the ocean and expecting a tidal wave. It’s not going to make a splash.

        And let’s not forget the stakes. Every election cycle, we’re told, “This is the most important election of our lifetime.” And guess what? They’re right. The issues at hand are monumental—climate change, healthcare, economic inequality. Do you really want to risk it all on a candidate who has as much chance of winning as a snowball in a furnace? Get real.

        But hey, I get it. You’re frustrated. You’re tired of the same old, same old. You want change. But change doesn’t come from the fringes. It comes from within. If you want to make a difference, get involved in your local party. Push for the changes you want to see. But don’t throw your vote away on a pipe dream.

        In the end, voting is about making a choice. And sometimes, that choice is the lesser of two evils. It’s not perfect, but it’s the system we have. So, next time you’re in the voting booth, think long and hard. Do you want to make a statement, or do you want to make a difference? Because in this game, those two things are rarely the same.

    • BynarsAreOk [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      6·
      9 hours ago

      I am not sure I agree but it doesn’t matter because the most likely outcome is they will be and they’ll write articles trying to convince us AI is good actualy before they end up being fired the very next day.

  • YEP [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    36·
    10 hours ago

    Honestly, does whining about this shit not turn off more voters than the usual no tv/media coverage ignoring. It really just feels like the petulant tantrum of the lanyard class. Like Kamala is gonna win because Trump and vance are prob the worst candidates you could possibly imagine. Take your win and shut up JFC. Unbearable cryGenocidaires

    • anarcho_blinkenist [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
      27·
      9 hours ago

      Honestly, does whining about this shit not turn off more voters than the usual no tv/media coverage ignoring

      It does and it is a “capitalist selling the rope” dialectic. It’s also showing that the ruling class is not as sure as you are that “Kamala is going to win”. They wouldn’t do this if there was no reason to. They wouldn’t send out all those darkmoney superpac lawyers to purge 3rd parties from ballots in as many states as they can either. They’re paper tigers afraid we’re going to starve them of the working class margins they rely on while they are instead committed to fighting over the increasingly shrinking bourgeois and petty-bourgeois voterbase with the republicans so they can still cater to the billionaire exploiters, murderers, racketeers, and death-merchants that they are structurally incapable of not serving. We should absolutely starve them, and elevate the PSL as much as possible in doing so.

  • sexywheat [none/use name]@hexbear.netEnglish
    77·
    12 hours ago

    who drained just enough support from Al Gore in Florida to tip the election to George W. Bush.

    Motherfucker, that election was rat fucked by the Supreme Court who prematurely stopped the recount. In a state who was governed by the brother of the winning presidential candidate, no less.

    presence on the ballot in a few swing states was just enough to keep Hillary Clinton from beating Donald Trump

    Hillary Clinton who won the popular vote? That Clinton? And who lost because of the ELECTORAL COLLEGE? The most undemocratic institution in the western world?

    This shit is so disingenuous. Just tut-tutting people who want a mediocre alternative to the dictatorship of the one-party-with-two-right-wings.

  • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    79·
    13 hours ago

    Least condescending lib journalist. Hillary won the popular vote by millions, but you think Jill Stein was the reason she didn’t become president? The whole reason you’re always talking about swing states is because your system sucks.

    • IHave69XiBucksEnglish
      10·
      5 hours ago

      Ya they never mention PSL and never include them on polls either Claudia is on my ballot so ill be voting for her even tho i dont actually think bougoise democracies are worth anything. Itll atleast elevate her visibility if she gets above 1% maybe.