Jill Stein’s Platform: Green Party Candidate Climbs Polls, But What Are Jill Stein’s Policies And How Do They Compare To Bernie?
Green Party candidate Jill Stein continues to climb in the polls, largely thanks to a boost from Bernie Sanders supporters after their candidate fell out of the race. But what are Jill Stein’s policies and exactly what would a Jill Stein presidency look like? Stein has some pretty radical ideas for the future of the United States, but in an election where anything goes, the prospect of Jill Stein winning isn’t a completely crazy idea.
According to Refinery 29, Jill Stein’s background is in medical practice. A graduate of Harvard Medical School, she spent decades practicing internal medicine before entering a medical career. In fact, in her early medical career, Stein was actually a member of the Democratic party. However, her key campaigning focus quickly turned to campaign finance reform, an issue that Stein found pushed her away from the party. Stein’s decision to leave the Democratic Party came as a result of their decision to kill campaign finance reform in the state of Massachusetts.
Jill Stein might be the most anti-science presidential candidate in this election cycle https://t.co/XjhnUh6teW pic.twitter.com/oeWKlNyvZ7
— Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) August 2, 2016
Jill Stein’s political career has been something of a bumpy road, however. She’s run for a number of political offices, including the governorship of her home state and even the presidency, with little success. That being said, Stein’s inability to win a political race is largely accredited to being a third-party candidate in a two-party system.
Arguably where Jill Stein draws the most parallels is with Bernie Sanders, a candidate in the recent race for the Democratic nomination, which he eventually lost to Hillary Clinton. In fact, it’s many of Stein’s policies that have attracted Bernie Sanders’ supporters to her campaign, including tackling climate change, campaign finance reform, and dealing with income inequality. However, Stein appears to take many of her views further than Sanders ever did. For example, on the issue of student debt, Stein would not only abolish higher education tuition fees but also forgive the debts of those who had already been through the system.
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When it comes to the two frontrunners in the 2016 presidential race, Jill Stein has expressed distaste for both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, suggesting that she wouldn’t fall out of the race in order to prevent a split in the vote. In fact, according to Newsy, Stein has in the past compared Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump. Whilst many imagine that a far left candidate would prefer Clinton over Trump, Jill Stein appears to hold no such view.
So, what would a Jill Stein presidency look like? Well, as aforementioned, Stein’s vision for America isn’t all that different to that of Bernie Sanders. At home, she’d look to boost job creation through government provided jobs, whilst establishing a minimum wage across the board of $15 an hour. Unsurprisingly, she also subscribes to “Medicare-for-All”, eliminating private health insurance and replacing it with a government-backed scheme, not all that dissimilar to what Bernie Sanders spoke about in his primary campaign.
Jill Stein hopes frustrated Bernie Sanders supporters will join her—not Hillary Clinton.https://t.co/GA5wflkzRu pic.twitter.com/rFPwIX7Mxy
— TheAtlanticPolitics (@TheAtlPolitics) July 28, 2016
Overseas, Stein would look to draw back the United States’ intervention. She’d look to reduce military spending by up to fifty percent and end aid to many countries that she feels don’t need it. In general, it’s fair to say that Jill Stein’s administration would play defensive when it comes to foreign and military policy.
Polling at around five percent, the prospect of a Jill Stein presidency isn’t all too likely. However, it’s easy to see why Bernie Sanders’ supporters are attracted to the Green Party candidate, given their shared policy plans. Whilst Stein herself stands little chance of winning the presidency, she could impact the result of the 2016 election greatly, with the potential to pull both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump towards her way of thinking.
[Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images]
