Jill Stein Touts 'People Power' And Slams Rahm At Uptown Campaign Rally

By aaroncynic in News on Sep 9, 2016 5:23PM

Green Party candidate Jill Stein made a handful of campaign stops Thursday and Friday, calling out her and the party’s critics while trying to make a case that there are alternatives to the two major political parties.

“Who are these political pundits and these media talking heads telling the American people to just be good little boys and girls and take our marching orders from the politicians in the Democratic and Republican Party," Stein asked sweltering supporters gathered at the Preston Bradley Center in Uptown. "Who are telling us we don't dare stand up and cast a vote for ourselves, for our future?”

“We’ve got news for you. We’re not locked into this predatory economy, predatory political system," she added. "We live in a democracy and we have more than two choices bought and paid for by predatory banks, wealthy few and war profiteers."

Stein’s stump speech, along with others made onstage throughout the evening, covered a wide variety of issues, including predatory student loans, crumbling education infrastructure, war in the middle East, institutional racism and police violence throughout the nation.

She also called out Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy for their handling of the killing of Laquan McDonald by police, calling it a cover-up.

“Police violence, this epidemic which you know so well here in Chicago...you have been so courageous in standing up to, saying not only did Chicago need a new chief of police, but Chicago needs a new mayor,” Stein said.

Stein and her choice for vice president, Ajamu Baraka, were joined onstage by other local green party candidates and a bevy of activists and community organizers who tied her stump speech and the Green Party’s agenda to hometown issues.

“Teachers love Jill Stein,” said Sarah Chambers, a Chicago Teacher and member of the teacher's union. “She supports public schools, she supports our union. Are Democrats and Republicans supporting public schools right now? They’re seeing our students as dollar signs, selling off our schools and changing them to charters. We know Jill Stein will end privatization, stop school closures and give our students the schools they really deserve.”

While Stein has virtually no chance of taking the White House in November, her rhetoric certainly hits home with disaffected voters fed up with a two party system that barely scratches the surface of deep, complicated issues that deserve more discussion than a 30 minute opportunity to double down on talking points over national television.

The idea of allowing third-party candidates to participate in presidential debates polls well, with a recent USA Today poll showing 76 percent of voters believing candidates like Stein or Libertarian Gary Johnson should be allowed to participate. While either of those campaigns mostly poll in single digits, if either can clinch 15 percent in the next two weeks, that could change the conversation the public is likely to hear between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

“We have the potential to open up the debates,” said Stein. Even Bernie Sanders has now come out saying it’s time to open up the debates.”