SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Beyond Clinton vs. Trump, Green Party Convention Kicks Off
"It's kind of funny that these big politicians think there's an entitlement, a new kind of entitlement, that big politicians are entitled to our vote. I don't think the American voters think that way"
Aug 04, 2016
The Green Party kicked off its national convention in Houston, Texas on Thursday, where presumptive nominee Jill Stein will present a third-party challenge to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
The convention will run from August 4-7. The proceedings are expected to include keynote speeches from scholar and activist Dr. Cornel West, who endorsed Stein over Clinton after Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race, and Philadelphia-based activist YahNe Ndgo. Local Green Party candidates for office will also appear.
Stein is expected to accept her party's nomination on August 6.
On Wednesday, CNN announced it would host a Green Party town hall on August 17--offering the party a rare chance to access the large media platform usually reserved for establishment candidates.
CNN writes:
This time around, Stein has hoped to capitalize on Clinton's low favorability ratings and the breakout performance of the self-declared Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders.
While Sanders endorsed Clinton and has pledged to ensure she becomes the next president, Stein has spent much of her efforts appealing to Sanders' most diehard supporters. She has claimed the support of some of them, including the scholar Cornel West.
The theme of insurgent candidates was prominent throughout the election. Now, with Sanders out of the race, 2016 has become "the best and worst year to be Jill Stein," as Bloomberg puts it.
Bloomberg writes:
Stein has yet to break 5 percent in national polling averages. She'll have to get to 15 percent to secure a spot at the presidential debates alongside Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and possibly Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, whose polling averages lie south of 10 percent. The better Stein does in November, the more states will guarantee the Green Party's 2020 nominee a spot on the ballot. If she reaches 5 percent of the national popular vote, the party will get millions in federal campaign funds in the next election. As of June 30, Stein's presidential campaign had taken in $859,000.
Stein's supporters are passionate--but so are her detractors.
"We don't have time to wait another eight years with another Democratic president that's not going to do anything," Roberto Ojeda, president of the Young Democrats at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, told Bloomberg. "Meanwhile our planet is dying, people are dying on the streets, there is abject poverty."
In contrast, Braddock, Pennsylvania Mayor John Fetterman said a vote for Stein amounts to a vote for Trump.
But ultimately, the support for Stein's policies shows voters are fed up with the major parties, Stein said.
"It's kind of funny that these big politicians think there's an entitlement, a new kind of entitlement, that big politicians are entitled to our vote," she told the Houston Chronicle in an interview on Wednesday. "I don't think the American voters think that way."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
The Green Party kicked off its national convention in Houston, Texas on Thursday, where presumptive nominee Jill Stein will present a third-party challenge to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
The convention will run from August 4-7. The proceedings are expected to include keynote speeches from scholar and activist Dr. Cornel West, who endorsed Stein over Clinton after Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race, and Philadelphia-based activist YahNe Ndgo. Local Green Party candidates for office will also appear.
Stein is expected to accept her party's nomination on August 6.
On Wednesday, CNN announced it would host a Green Party town hall on August 17--offering the party a rare chance to access the large media platform usually reserved for establishment candidates.
CNN writes:
This time around, Stein has hoped to capitalize on Clinton's low favorability ratings and the breakout performance of the self-declared Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders.
While Sanders endorsed Clinton and has pledged to ensure she becomes the next president, Stein has spent much of her efforts appealing to Sanders' most diehard supporters. She has claimed the support of some of them, including the scholar Cornel West.
The theme of insurgent candidates was prominent throughout the election. Now, with Sanders out of the race, 2016 has become "the best and worst year to be Jill Stein," as Bloomberg puts it.
Bloomberg writes:
Stein has yet to break 5 percent in national polling averages. She'll have to get to 15 percent to secure a spot at the presidential debates alongside Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and possibly Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, whose polling averages lie south of 10 percent. The better Stein does in November, the more states will guarantee the Green Party's 2020 nominee a spot on the ballot. If she reaches 5 percent of the national popular vote, the party will get millions in federal campaign funds in the next election. As of June 30, Stein's presidential campaign had taken in $859,000.
Stein's supporters are passionate--but so are her detractors.
"We don't have time to wait another eight years with another Democratic president that's not going to do anything," Roberto Ojeda, president of the Young Democrats at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, told Bloomberg. "Meanwhile our planet is dying, people are dying on the streets, there is abject poverty."
In contrast, Braddock, Pennsylvania Mayor John Fetterman said a vote for Stein amounts to a vote for Trump.
But ultimately, the support for Stein's policies shows voters are fed up with the major parties, Stein said.
"It's kind of funny that these big politicians think there's an entitlement, a new kind of entitlement, that big politicians are entitled to our vote," she told the Houston Chronicle in an interview on Wednesday. "I don't think the American voters think that way."
Nadia Prupis
Nadia Prupis is a former Common Dreams staff writer. She wrote on media policy for Truthout.org and has been published in New America Media and AlterNet. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BA in English in 2008.
The Green Party kicked off its national convention in Houston, Texas on Thursday, where presumptive nominee Jill Stein will present a third-party challenge to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
The convention will run from August 4-7. The proceedings are expected to include keynote speeches from scholar and activist Dr. Cornel West, who endorsed Stein over Clinton after Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race, and Philadelphia-based activist YahNe Ndgo. Local Green Party candidates for office will also appear.
Stein is expected to accept her party's nomination on August 6.
On Wednesday, CNN announced it would host a Green Party town hall on August 17--offering the party a rare chance to access the large media platform usually reserved for establishment candidates.
CNN writes:
This time around, Stein has hoped to capitalize on Clinton's low favorability ratings and the breakout performance of the self-declared Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders.
While Sanders endorsed Clinton and has pledged to ensure she becomes the next president, Stein has spent much of her efforts appealing to Sanders' most diehard supporters. She has claimed the support of some of them, including the scholar Cornel West.
The theme of insurgent candidates was prominent throughout the election. Now, with Sanders out of the race, 2016 has become "the best and worst year to be Jill Stein," as Bloomberg puts it.
Bloomberg writes:
Stein has yet to break 5 percent in national polling averages. She'll have to get to 15 percent to secure a spot at the presidential debates alongside Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and possibly Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, whose polling averages lie south of 10 percent. The better Stein does in November, the more states will guarantee the Green Party's 2020 nominee a spot on the ballot. If she reaches 5 percent of the national popular vote, the party will get millions in federal campaign funds in the next election. As of June 30, Stein's presidential campaign had taken in $859,000.
Stein's supporters are passionate--but so are her detractors.
"We don't have time to wait another eight years with another Democratic president that's not going to do anything," Roberto Ojeda, president of the Young Democrats at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, told Bloomberg. "Meanwhile our planet is dying, people are dying on the streets, there is abject poverty."
In contrast, Braddock, Pennsylvania Mayor John Fetterman said a vote for Stein amounts to a vote for Trump.
But ultimately, the support for Stein's policies shows voters are fed up with the major parties, Stein said.
"It's kind of funny that these big politicians think there's an entitlement, a new kind of entitlement, that big politicians are entitled to our vote," she told the Houston Chronicle in an interview on Wednesday. "I don't think the American voters think that way."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.