As I have lamented before and likely will again, I am not supporting Kamala Harris or Jill Stein in the upcoming election. Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai has earned my support for his consistency on issues like BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) and medical freedom. To those who might accuse me of dividing the pro-Palestine vote by backing Shiva—or even the rare Cornel West supporter—I would point out that Stein has no better chance of winning than any of her so-called "spoiler" opponents.
For those criticizing me for opposing Stein, some have gone as far as suggesting that I share some kind of common cause with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). I find that offensive. Even a broken clock can be right every once in a while, it’s clear that my disdain for Stein has nothing to do with any alignment with AOC. My experiences with the Green Party, particularly at the national level, have made it evident that the party prefers to remain a hippie-dippy social club, uninterested in delivering tangible victories for its well-meaning small-dollar donors.
To expand on my experiences with the Green Party, I served as Co-Chair of Jesse Ventura's Presidential Exploratory Committee and later as Chairman of the Jesse Ventura/Cynthia McKinney 2020 presidential ticket. This ticket was only nominated by the Alaska Green Party—the first ever ballot-qualified Green Party in the United States—because they refused to support Howie Hawkins’ intentionally lackluster campaign. Hawkins' dormant ‘preisdential campaign’, if you can even call it that, seemed designed to help Joe Biden and Kamala Harris by making the Greens a non-threat.
AOC made one factual error in her critique of Stein, claiming Stein only "pops up every four years." In reality, Stein didn’t even run in 2020. Instead, the Greens nominated the affimentioned mushmouthed Hawkins, a chronic loser and his forgettable running mate, over a former governor (Ventura) and a former U.S. representative (McKinney), making it easier for Biden and Harris to secure victory. Cynthia McKinney remains the only Green presidential nominee to have ever held federal office, I think that’s most relevant to the subject at hand. Which brings me to another error AOC made, that is in underestimating the party’s desperation: unlike in 2020, the Greens are now reusing Stein because they need a higher vote percentage for downright survival, especially after Hawkins' disastrous campaign significantly weakened the party’s ballot presence.
I no longer think of Cornel West as particularly astute, but he was wise to abandon the Green Party when he did. My misguided loyalty to the party in 2020 resulted in Ventura/McKinney being nominated by only one state Green Party, securing just one ballot line. In contrast, West has already secured far more ballot lines than Ventura/McKinney did, thanks to his early disillusionment with the Greens.
While AOC was wrong about much of what she said, her comments clearly served the Democratic Party's interests, yet, she was correct in one key respect: the Green Party has no commitment to winning. Stein has gone out of her way this cycle to smear her 2008 predecessor, Cynthia McKinney, labeling her an "anti-Semite." Imagine if Cynthia had been the Green nominee in any of the last three election cycles. The Dems wouldn’t be able to rely on their usual talking points of inexperience—also, McKinney would have known exactly how many colleagues she had in Congress.
It’s painful to admit, but Jill Stein was the first presidential candidate I ever voted for. Knowing what I now know about her character—and the lack of integrity of her ilk, including people like Erin Fox and Justin Beth—makes me regret that vote. Their sabotage of the Ventura 2020 exploratory committee, estranging Ventura towards the woke Harris crowd, has only strengthened my resolve. I'll be pleased if my vote for Shiva Ayyadurai, combined with Cornel West’s public grievances with the Greens, costs them their real goal of 3% (certainly not the 5% needed for federal funding) with this desperate third usage of Stein.
