Don’t waste your vote this election, #InvestYourVote.
Why should we allow the corporate parties to spoil our elections anymore? “Lesser evilism” has brought us everything we feared – erosion of our civil liberties and civil rights, mass deportations, ongoing wars and a massive refugee crisis, a meltdown of our climate and the crashing of our economy.
It’s time to stand up and say no more! And you can feel safer about your vote not helping someone you don’t want because we don’t live in a “swing state.”
Here are the 5 ways a Jill Stein vote in Maryland wins no matter what.
1. JILL STEIN WINS THE STATE.
Ok, so this is an obvious one. Currently, we have several competitive races in Baltimore with the campaigns of Joshua Harris, Ian Schlakman, Andreas “Spilly” Spiliadis, and others. If we can win in Baltimore, we have a chance of a statewide win! A win in Maryland would undeniably rock the halls of power in our state. This is only the beginning!
2. JILL STEIN WINS 5% OF THE VOTE STATEWIDE.
If the Green Party obtains 5% of the popular vote nationwide, the party will have access to millions of dollars of federal funding which in turn will assure automatic ballot access in all 50 states for the next Green presidential nominee. Such a platform would provide for progressives, such as the likes of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the legitimate option to not have to run with the Democratic Party, a counter-revolutionary party controlled largely by centrist corporate interests.
3. JILL STEIN HELPS OUR DOWN BALLOT RACES.
We have 13 Greens running in partisan races throughout our state, predominately in Baltimore City. The Stein campaign’s visibility has also helped raise the visibility of our down-ballot campaigns. In September, our VP nominee Ajamu Baraka, alongside with Dr. Margaret Flowers and Joshua Harris, took the time to talk with some of Baltimore’s homeless population, listening to their concerns and struggles. Our candidates took this a step further, through compassion and solidarity, and slept out in the cold with their fellow brothers and sisters. This is what true leadership and representation is all about. Having the ability to not just understand struggle, but to also experience struggle. This makes Greens the best advocates for the most neglected members of society. We are here making history in Baltimore, and we intend to go big statewide in 2018!
4. EVERY VOTE IS A STATEMENT FOR WHAT WE WANT, INSTEAD OF A STATEMENT FOR WHAT WE DON’T WANT.
Aspirational politics is all but missing from modern government. Jill Stein and the Greens are pushing the important issues that are popular and desperately necessary to solve the major crises we face. The Greens are the only party advocating health care as a human right with a Medicare-for-all system, abolishing crushing student debt, ending fossil fuels and moving rapidly toward renewable energy by 2030, ending US wars in the Middle East by stopping the flow of arms and money to terrorist groups, and revitalizing the US economy with a federal minimum wage of $15 and a massive jobs program. The platform of Jill Stein and the Green Party embodies concrete, practical plans to build the sustainable, equitable and peaceful world the vast majority of humanity yearns for. A vote for her is a vote for hope that we can have a system that really solves problems.
5. A STRONG VOTE FOR JILL STEIN WILL PUSH OUR COUNTRY TOWARD A FAIR VOTING SYSTEM.
When people feel forced to vote against a candidate they don’t want rather than for one they do want, democracy is broken. The easiest, most immediate way to reduce the fear that dominates in national elections and start to repair our democracy is to implement a fairer voting system such as Ranked Choice Voting, now in use in Takoma Park’s city elections, where we have previously elected Greens to office. By allowing voters to rank the candidates, rather than limiting their choice to just one, Ranked Choice Voting opens the field to more candidates and ultimately, to more parties. Shifting the United States to a multi-party system (like nearly every single other democracy worldwide) is a long-term change, but it can start with a more democratic voting system.
#InvestYourVote | #VoteGreen2016 | #SupportProgressives | #BmoreGreen