I was previously involved in local and state politics, but not national, because grassroots democracy starts at the bottom. This was the breaking point for me, though - and it made the case that in order to fight locally, we have to fight nationally; we can't afford to neglect any area of life in this democracy.
Jill SteinAs Bernie Sanders himself said, you know, the [Donald] Trump movement reflects the economic despair and misery that's been inflicted not only on the American people but people around the world.
Jill SteinI will not sleep fine if Donald Trump wins and I will not sleep fine is Hillary Clinton wins. Whether you are looking at nuclear weapons, whether you are looking at expanding wars and their blowback, which will not stop as long as those wars continue to expand, or whether you're looking at the climate, in my view, we have no choice. This is an existential moment. We are deciding not only what kind of world we will have, but whether we will have a world or not. I think it's very important to get outside this box that tells us we are powerless, when in fact, we are powerful.
Jill SteinThe first time I ran for office in 2002, running for governor in Massachusetts against Mitt Romney, we actually worked with a Democratic legislator to file that bill, so that there would be no risk of splitting the vote. The Democrats had about 85% of the Legislature at that time. They could have easily protected their access to the governorship. But they refused to do so. They wouldn't let the bill out of committee.
Jill SteinWe can keep doing the same thing, but it would be unreasonable to expect a different result. It's very important, I think, for us to stop and look at what we're doing.We've been applying a flamethrower to the Middle East. And not just to the Middle East.
Jill SteinTo millennials, the Democratic Party is the party of endless debt, it is the party of low-wage jobs, it is the part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it is the party of the KXL pipeline, which was only stopped because, you know, because we, the voters, you know, just worked our bones - you know, worked ourselves to the bone in order to stop it.
Jill Stein