Pat Taub
Last Friday I found myself at the Amtrak Station in Portland waiting for Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for President, who was in town for a Fund Raiser and a series of interviews . Since I was hosting her, I was the designated greeter and driver.
When I spotted Jill, I was a little taken aback by her modest appearance. She was traveling alone, casually attired in jeans and a tan down coat, while lugging a bulging backpack and a well-worn suitcase. Jill reflected a refreshing change from the big monied candidates who travel with an entourage of prickly handlers. She greeted me warmly like we were old friends.
Dr. Jill Stein in an official campaign photo
Jill is an uncompromising candidate. She betters the populist Bernie who promises to address income inequality, but, unlike Jill, stops short of pledging to trim the Pentagon’s bloated budget and curb America’s endless wars, or ending the obscene amount of money we give to Israel in spite of their mounting human rights violations.
For that evening’s fund-raiser in my living room, Jill had changed into her softly tailored candidate’s suit. She was poised and gracious as she explained that she gave up her medical practice to concentrate on her candidacy. She humorously refers to this transition:
“Now I’m practicing political medicine, but politics is really the mother of all illness. If we want to fix the things that are killing us, then we have to fix this very sick political system.”
Jill at Portland’s Fund Raiser with two local Green candidates, Paul Okot & Dave Foster (Photo, Lisa Savage)
Jill’s prescription for fixing the system is contained in the Green New Deal. Basically she’s advocating policies that address global warming and programs to alleviate the many difficulties that plague the poor and struggling middle class. Among her proposals: creating new jobs, many of them “green;” affordable housing; single payer health care; free day care; generous paternity leave, reproductive rights, and a living wage—while vowing to reign in unbridled corporate greed.
Her travels across the country have assured her that the majority of Americans support her platform, commenting: “We don’t have to change minds. We just have to organize.”
She believes her vow to abolish student debt and make higher education free has the potential to attract Millennials to the Greens, a group that could turn the tide for her, if they vote in large numbers.
Student support for Jill.
Jill recounts that her political awakening came around the time of her 40th birthday. As a mother of young children and a practicing physician she was outraged when she learned that coal plant incinerators in her state of Massachusetts were emitting toxins that were contaminating mother’s breast milk, placing nursing infants in danger of developing learning disabilities and physical impairments. At greatest risk were immigrant mothers since their neighborhoods were often within the closest range of the incinerators. Jill helped organize a campaign to force the “Filthy Five” plants to meet safety standards. Her efforts were successful and new safety standards became law.
Jill joining with a “Black Lives Matter” march
Since Jill’s campaign is not beholden to special interests in Washington, she’s free to speak out on pressing issues that often force mainstream candidates in both parties to parse their words, or remain silent.
On the second day of Jill’s Portland visit, she addressed a crowd at Bath Iron Works who were protesting the christening of a Navy war ship destined for South East Asia. Jill lamented this action, insisting money on warships would be better spent on schools, hospitals and job creation. The odds are that neither Hillary nor Bernie would dare to target the powerful military-industrial complex.
Whether or not you agree with Jill Stein’s politics, you have to admire her commitment to social justice, represented by her willingness to reach out to whole populations in American society that are typically ignored by the other candidates. Last week she visited Karnes City, Texas where immigrant mothers and their children seeking asylum are imprisoned in overcrowded substandard housing with little chance of receiving a fair hearing for citizenship. (A federal lawsuit suing the Obama administration for violating the basic rights of children is on the docket.) Jill pledged to rectify this situation if elected President.
