(The following was originally posted in VICE.)
Can the Green Party Make a Comeback in 2016?
by Eric Holthaus
As the 2016 presidential campaign creeps out of the gates, American politics seems to be at yet another crossroads. Discontent over economic inequality, unchecked climate change , and systemic racism in the criminal justice system have spurred growing protest movements across the country. Meanwhile, the country’s two major political parties are more polarized than ever, endlessly locked in a farcical partisan dance that brought governance to a standstill. Voters can be forgiven for thinking that the democratic process is broken and that their leaders have failed to respond to their most urgent needs—it’s no surprise that the 2014 midterm election had the lowest turnout in 72 years.
Amid this political landscape, Green Party activist Jill Stein feels it may finally be time for a real third-party movement to take hold in the US. On Friday, Stein, a Massachusetts doctor,announced that she is considering another run for the Green Party’s presidential nomination in 2016, declaring in a press conference that “it is time for generational shifts in our national vision.”
“We’ve had enough of rule by the economic elite,” she told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. “The old politics is collapsing and the political vacuum is begging to be filled. 2016 provides an incredible opportunity to fill that vacuum and surge forward.”
