The Greenest Thing A Green Can Do May 17, 2024May 16, 2024 There is some reason to think RFK Jr. will take more votes from Trump than from Biden — e.g., here — and my gut has always told me that’s true. Biden voters see Trump as the ultimate threat to everything they care about, from climate and reproductive rights to decency and democracy itself. So, whatever their reservations, they are less likely to throw their vote away on Kennedy, I should think, than would be Republicans who — while they might never vote blue — don’t want chaos, either. Time will tell. But what of Jill Stein? In 2016, Dr. Stein got 1% of the vote. Had most of her Michigan and Wisconsin votes gone to Clinton instead, Hillary would have been President, the Supreme Court would today slightly left, Roe would remain the law of the land, huge tax cuts for the rich would not have been ballooning our debt, and our allies would not today be terrified Trump could actually win. And now she’s running again. So I drafted the kind of speech I hope she’ll give before early voting begins: THANK YOU FOR COMING TODAY. I AM RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT BECAUSE NEITHER TRUMP NOR BIDEN SHARES OUR GREEN AGENDA. I WOULD MAKE A BETTER PRESIDENT THAN EITHER OF THEM. AND EVEN THOUGH I WON’T WIN IN NOVEMBER, MY HAVING RUN AND YOUR HAVING SUPPORTED ME WILL HAVE SERVED TO BUILD OUR MOVEMENT SO THAT ONE DAY WE CAN. IT WAS ACTUALLY THE REVEREND THEODORE PARKER IN 1853 WHO FIRST OBSERVED THAT THE ARC OF THE MORAL UNIVERSE IS LONG, BUT THAT IT BENDS TOWARD JUSTICE. YOUR SUPPORTING ME LENDS YOUR WEIGHT TOWARD BENDING THAT ARC. BUT HISTORY ALSO TELLS US HOW BADLY IT CAN WOBBLE ALONG THE WAY. AND WE CAN LEARN FROM THAT. INDEED, TO MAXIMIZE OUR CHANCE OF SUCCESS, WE MUST LEARN FROM THAT. TWO DOZEN YEARS AGO, THE COUNTRY FACED A CHOICE BETWEEN AL GORE – WHO, IMPERFECT AS HE WAS, CARED DEEPLY ABOUT CLIMATE — AND THE FAR LESS PROGRESSIVE GEORGE W. BUSH. +OUR+ CANDIDATE THAT YEAR, RALPH NADER, WAS INSPIRATIONAL, UNCOMPROMISED BY SPECIAL INTERESTS, A BRILLIANT ADVOCATE FOR EVERYTHING WE STAND FOR. AND AT LEAST RELATIVELY SPEAKING, HE GOT A LOT OF VOTES – 97,488 IN FLORIDA ALONE. BUT WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT, WE KNOW THAT — EVEN AFTER THE REPUBLICANS OUTRAGEOUSLY THREW OUT 45,000 SO-CALLED OVER-VOTES (WHERE VOTERS HAD MADE IT DOUBLY CLEAR THEY WANTED GORE, AND SO WERE DENIED THEIR VOTE) — BUSH WON FLORIDA BY ONLY 537 VOTES. AND WITH FLORIDA, THE PRESIDENCY. WHICH GAVE US THE WAR IN IRAQ, AND THE RIGHT-LEANING SUPREME COURT THAT GAVE US CITIZENS UNITED AND GUTTED THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT AND OVERTURNED ROE. SOME PEOPLE TRY TO BLAME THAT ON RALPH. I DON’T. HOW COULD HE POSSIBLY HAVE KNOWN THAT IF SOME TINY FRACTION OF HIS 97,488 FLORIDA VOTERS HAD HELD THEIR NOSES AND VOTED FOR THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS, AS MANY SAW GORE, EVERYTHING RALPH AND YOU AND I CARE ABOUT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN SO TERRIBLY SET BACK? HE COULDN’T KNOW! NOR COULD HE KNOW JUST HOW BAD THE RAMIFICATIONS OF A BUSH WIN WOULD BE. BUT NOW WE DO KNOW. AND WE KNOW THAT TRUMP IS EVEN WORSE THAN BUSH WAS. SO NOW, WITH THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT, I ASK YOU TO ADOPT AN EQUALLY RIGHTEOUS – INDEED, ARGUABLY MORE RIGHTEOUS – STRATEGY: IF YOU LIVE IN A DARK BLUE OR DARK RED STATE, FOR GOD’S SAKE VOTE FOR ME! VOTE GREEN! WE NEED TO SHOW WE ARE HERE, THAT WE CARE, AND THAT THERE IS A BETTER PATH. BUT IF YOU LIVE IN A PURPLE STATE, LIKE PENNSYLVANIA OR WISCONSIN OR MICHIGAN OR – YES – FLORIDA, VOTE FOR BIDEN. IDEALISM HAS ITS PLACE: AND THAT PLACE IS DARK BLUE AND DARK RED STATES. BUT THE TRUE IDEALIST IS COMMITTED TO A BETTER, FAIRER, KINDER, GREENER MORE DECENT WORLD – AND THERE’S NOT A SINGLE GREEN PARTY MEMBER AMONG US WHO DOESN’T SEE TRUMP FOR THE NIGHTMARE HE IS AND WOULD BE. OR WHO WANTS REPUBLICANS IN CHARGE OF THE HOUSE OR SENATE. SO I SAY AGAIN: IF YOU LIVE IN A SWING STATE, VOTE BLUE. IT IS THE GREENEST THING WE CAN DO. I am told by someone way more plugged in than me that Dr. Stein will never give a speech like that. But if she is truly green, how can she not? Now: does anyone have an email address for Cornel West?