I took a quiz today — learned about it thanks to a political facebook post, of all things. According to the results, I side most with Dr. Jill Stein of The Green Party (92%) and second most (91%) with President Barack Obama (Democrat). And thanks to a woman unafraid of self-promotion, I read this. (I should note, I went to the same high school as the author, Colleen Becker.)
[Stein’s] most vexing challenge is convincing progressives who agree with her message and support her platform to vote for a Green Party candidate. Stein describes how voters compromise their values and interests by choosing ‘the lesser evil’ — in their fear to stand up for themselves, they manifest their worst nightmares…
Practicing what she calls “political medicine,” Stein encourages her natural allies to heal themselves from a “sadomasochistic relationship to corporate politics” by acknowledging their agency…
Binarism afflicts American politics, and voters too often perceive the race between Democrats and Republicans as the battle of Good versus Evil. Seeing beyond the two-party structure is as difficult as imagining an economic model outside the Capitalist-Socialist dichotomy, yet neither duality adequately contends with current economic and political crises.
If my political views align with leaders of two parties, and I vote for the incumbent, would Dr. Stein suggest that I’m at best, a sell-out, and at worst, afraid? Both could be true. Mostly though, I think I’m a pragmatist, not a revolutionist. It troubles me, to think that a candidate who represents much of what I believe, might give me, a potential supporter, so little credit.
Maybe I’m overly sensitive. Maybe Dr. Stein simply expects more of me, a well-informed voter.
I’m just focused on making sure the Affordable Care Act isn’t repealed and Medicare isn’t transformed into a “premium support” plan.
I see the forest for the trees, I really do. But a few of those trees are on fire, and they’re near my family’s home.
Diary of a Corporate Wife 
Voters on the left are between a rock and a hard place. Obama’s rhetoric is still compelling even though many have been disillusioned and disappointed by his presidency. It would take a critical mass, like the Tea Party or evangelical movement on the Right, to mould the Democratic Party into an entity resembling leftist voters’ true ideals and pragmatic interests. As was evident from the outset, the Occupy movement wasn’t a robust entity and, unfortunately, Dr. Stein hasn’t marshalled the base of support necessary to influence or alter the political landscape. So, representatives from the two parties simply mouth what they believe “core” voters want to hear in the months leading up to the election.
I’m looking forward to seeing how my political expectations change when we move to Europe, and seeing how my children’s will be set. There are times when I believe moving away from the States for a time would do every voter a world of good.