HTA-0611: Dr. Jill Stein — 2012 Green Party Presidential Candidate

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Summary

Henry interviews Dr. Jill Stein, the 2012 Green Party presidential candidate, about her chances and platform.

Full Transcript

00:00
Now, look me in the eye and tell me, do you have a chance of actually winning?

00:04
I'm not holding my breath, put it that way.

00:06
Good, she's a physician, so you know not to.

00:08
Right, but on the other hand, I'm not ruling it out.

00:11
And in my view, it's a win for us simply to recover a voice and our political courage

00:18
and a voice for the public interest.

00:20
Because right now we've got kind of competing public relations campaigns

00:25
for Wall Street-sponsored candidates,

00:27
and we're going to get more Wall Street sponsored business as usual,

00:31
which is not good for the American public.

00:32
So we're making the point that we've actually made progress throughout the past several centuries

00:38
through independent small political parties that actually drive the progressive agenda forward,

00:45
whether it was the abolition of slavery, the Women's Party for women's right to vote,

00:50
the socialist labor and progressive parties for the right to unionize for 40-hour work weeks and safe working conditions.

00:57
it has always taken that independent voice outside of the political mainstream.

01:02
So we're saying it's a win wherever we come out.

01:05
Okay, so what are the issues specifically that you think you can put forward that may not be discussed by the other candidates?

01:11
Yeah, well, you know, across the board, we're seeing the wealthy few who crashed the economy continue to make out like bandits,

01:19
while the American people are basically getting austerity inflicted on them, losing jobs, homes, health care, affordable higher education, you name it.

01:26
Barack Obama could have said that word for word.

01:29
He says it, but he doesn't do it.

01:31
So what would you do?

01:32
If you actually look at the record, you know that we've seen massive bailouts.

01:35
In so many ways, this president has embraced the policies of George Bush and even gone

01:40
further.

01:41
The expanding wars, the disregard for the climate, the drill baby drill policies, the neglect

01:48
of working conditions, the free trade agreements that continue to offshore our jobs and engage

01:53
American workers in the race to the bottom.

01:56
So yeah, number one, we would establish a Green New Deal, like the New Deal that actually

02:01
got us out of the Great Depression.

02:03
We can do that now for about the cost of the first stimulus package.

02:07
We could actually create 25 million jobs, end unemployment, jumpstart the green economy

02:14
for the 21st century, and put a halt to climate change.

02:18
Okay, the question you get asked all the time.

02:22
The last time folks voted for a Green Party candidate, they ended up losing the presidency

02:26
altogether, and that would be the Liberals voting for Ralph Nader.

02:29
What about that?

02:30
Great, and thank you for asking the question, because now we have 10 years of experience

02:34
with this politics of fear that tells us not to vote our values, to be afraid to go hold

02:40
your nose and vote for the lesser evil.

02:42
And the reality is, after 10 years, we have learned that silence is not an effective political

02:47
strategy.

02:48
And in fact, this politics of fear has delivered everything that we were afraid of,

02:54
that we were supposed to be quiet in order to avoid, like the expanding wars, the meltdown of the climate,

02:59
the offshoring of our jobs, declining workers' wages, the attack on our civil liberties, immigrants.

03:04
More immigrants have been deported under four years of Barack Obama than under eight years of George Bush.

03:10
So we've been hearing the talk, but not seeing the walk.

03:13
So we're saying, actually, it's the politics of courage that we need.

03:16
That is, throughout history, how we have moved forward.

03:20
Thank you, Dr. Jill Stein.

03:22
You'll see her name on your ballot, almost certainly a Green Party candidate.

03:26
Marty, back to you.

03:27
Dr. Stein, Henry, thanks a lot.

03:29
Coming up on Cronfort News Weekend,

03:31
people who are already finding it really tough to get an affordable apartment in the Bay Area

03:35
have another thing to worry about.

03:37
Scammers will have a report coming up.

03:39
In the meantime, let's take this live look outside.

03:42
San Francisco, overcast skies.

03:44
That should be burning off later today.

03:45
should have a beautiful Mother's Day around the Bay.

03:47
We'll be right back.

03:51
Watch Zazzle Vanna Breakers

03:53
Sunday morning, May 20th at 8 on

03:55
Cron 4. Broadcast