•  Campaign Videos (December 2011) « Jill Stein for President
  

[Music] Stein: Hello, friends, family and community. [music faded out]  I'm Jill Stein, candidate for president, with the Green Party.  I'm checking in for the first time by video to bring you directly the voice of our campaign for democracy, peace and justice in the 2012 election.

In the holiday season there's always talk about hope, so I wanted to offer a few words about real hope, and the change that hope depends on.  I'm not talking about the hype of the last election, where hope was a slogan and change was something to believe in but not actually to accomplish.  I'm talking about real hope for deep change, the kind that's breaking out all over because so many people like you are standing up and refusing to accept this unprecedented state of inequality, austerity and perpetual war that we're in.  Instead you are demanding the peaceful, just Green future that we all deserve and that is the real source of hope, not only for the holidays, but for every day going forward to a better future that is within our reach. 

I want to mention briefly three policy changes announced by the White House last week going into the holiday season, changes that continue taking us in the wrong direction.

First, President Obama announced that he will sign the National Defense Authorization Act.  This allows the president to basically take away your right to a trial by jury, the presumption of your innocence, and your protection against the use of the military against you as a citizen on U.S. soil.  The bill allows you to be declared essentially an enemy of the state based on mere suspicion on the part of this or any other president.  No evidence needs to be produced to justify the president's suspicion.  You don't even need to be accused of a crime, nor tried and found guilty.  In signing the law, President Obama will basically eliminate your rights guaranteed in the 6th, 7th and 8th amendments of our federal Constitution.

Second, the president retreated on his previous position o the Keystone Pipeline.  We are teetering on the brink of climate catastrophe and the President had rightly promised to veto any legislation advancing the pipeline.  But no longer.  In a reversal, the White House announced its agreement for a rush decision on the pipeline as a sweetener, deal to continue the payroll tax cut two months, as if our climate's future could be thrown around like a small bargaining chip.  It demonstrates again the willingness of the Obama White House to sell out the climate for political convenience.

Third, the president abandoned the promise of health care for all as he backed away from a single high quality national health insurance standard under the Affordable Care Act.  Instead, state governments will be allowed to set lower standards. 

And there was one other piece of critical news last week in the form of new Census data which shows what millions of you already know from your own hard experience, that nearly one third of Americans are now living in or near the poverty level.  That so many are in poverty while the wealthy few are richer than ever makes it clearer than ever that it's time for real change.

Fortunately that force for change is rising up across the nation.  It's thriving in the Wisconsin rallies against austerity, in the heroic stand of the Occupy movements for our First Amendment rights against brutal police repression.   It's in the foreclosure protests that are keeping families in their homes across the country.  It's going strong in the mass arrests at the White House protesting the president's failure to stop the Keystone pipeline.  It's surging among workers demanding jobs, good wages and benefits from corporations that are squeezing ever more profit from workers who've been left behind.  It's rising up among students standing up for tuition-free higher education and debt forgiveness.  And, it's breaking out in the movement for a constitutional amendment to guarantee that we the people, not the corporations decide our common future, and that spirit is alive and well in this campaign. 

Together we are bringing that vision into the 2012 presidential election and we will be heard because it's now clear silence is not an effective political strategy, and the moment we stand up and vote our values, we begin to revive democracy and take our future back.  So I thank you for all that you are doing to renew hope in the new year.  I look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail and in the meantime, please join our people-powered team at JillStein.org and encourage everyone you know to do the same, because the future of all of us is on the line.  So let's get started building the peaceful, just Green future that we all deserve.  Thank you so much and happy holidays.  [music]

 

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Copyright © 2011 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.