The presidential race this year has been interesting, to say the least. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton fought a tight race on the Democratic side, while Donald Trump seemed to clench the Republican nomination right from the start. Now that it has come down to just Clinton and Trump, many people, especially supporters of Bernie, are worried about who they should vote for. The good news is, there may be a third candidate on the ballot, and her name is Jill Stein.
Stein is a Green Party candidate and Harvard Medical School graduate. She is pushing for a "Green New Deal," which would end wars with countries containing a lot of oil and create millions of new jobs in the clean energy sector. Stein and Sanders both run their campaigns free from corporate donations and strive for election reform.
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Concerning education, Stein wants to get rid of the common core curriculum and end standardized testing. Stein also wants to create a government bailout to help college graduates who have a lot of debt from public universities.
As an adamant pacifist, Stein would push to slash the military budget and use that money to focus on building green infrastructure. She wants to discontinue new weapons programs and remove American troops from unnecessary military bases. There are hundreds of bases that Stein believes Americans shouldn't be paying taxes to keep up the maintenance for.
Like Sanders, Stein wants to break up big banks and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. Increasing taxes on the wealthy is another part of her plan similar to Sanders'.
Jill Stein also has the intention to curb voter suppression, end unwarranted surveillance, close Guantanamo, and repeal indefinite detention without charge or trial.
These are some of the major talking points of Stein's campaign. She has a lot of overlap with Sanders, but has criticized the Democratic Party for its ability to suppress candidates like Sanders who don't fit the usual presidential mold. Now that you have some basic facts about what she stands for, give Jill Stein a chance and don't dismiss her this presidential race just because she's a third party candidate. We should embrace change that will lead us on a path towards peace and equality, or else we may end up with a president who wants to build a wall and get rid of important programs like Planned Parenthood and Social Security. Think carefully about who you want running the country the next four years.
