Massachusetts native Jill Stein will more than likely be the only presidential candidate speaking at next month’s Seattle Hempfest.
It’s that grassroots effort that Stein said will help her successfully campaign as the Green Party’s candidate for president.
“Somehow democracy got lost when the established parties got bought,” said Stein, who last week earned the nomination of the young political party. “We are the 99 percent. We live in a nation of one person, one vote and we need to take that democracy back.”
Stein, a 62-year-old doctor from Lexington, told Metro yesterday that she considers herself a member of the 99 percent – a phrase used by those in the Occupy movement to describe themselves and others who are not among the super wealthy establishment.
“I’m certainly the candidate supporting the Occupy movement and I have been from even before I was a candidate,” said Stein, who has made appearances at Occupy encampments, including Dewey Square. “I’ve made it clear, I’m here to support them. I’m not asking for their support. That’s not the business of Occupy and I respect their firewall in order to avoid being preyed upon.”
Some members of the Occupy Boston movement refused to comment on Stein and a message left for their media team was not returned by press time.
The Green Party platform – not just green jobs and climate change – and the issues raised by the Occupy movement do overlap in some areas. Stein said she is concerned with Wall Street involvement in politics, student loan debt and universal, affordable health care.
Don’t call it a long shot
While Green Party candidates typically raise far less money than major party candidates and earn a fraction of the votes in national and state elections, Jill Stein isn’t considering her campaign already over.
“I think the odds against our campaign are pretty much the odds against the American people,” she said. “It’s also a long shot to think that students are going to get out of debt … a long shot to think we’re going to save the climate.”
Stein said the issues that the Green Party has been fighting for are the same as the “majoritarian agenda.”
“There’s a psychological war out there that we do not have the power and can’t win,” Stein said. “We can’t just sit back and let them decide what our future is.”
