Vowing to combat the “converging crises” of racism, militarism, climate change, and “extreme materialism,” Dr. Jill Stein on Tuesday announced this week that she is running for president of the United States as a Green Party candidate.
In a campaign kick-off speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Stein laid out the major planks of her platform, excerpted below:
Our Power to the People Plan lays out these solutions in a blueprint to move our economy from the greed and exploitation of corporate capitalism to a human-centered system that puts people, planet and peace over profit. This plan would end unemployment and poverty; avert climate catastrophe; build a sustainable, just economy; and recognize the dignity and human rights of everyone in our society. The plan affirms that we have the power to take our future back:
We have the power to create a Green New Deal, providing millions of jobs by transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030.
We have the power to provide to a living-wage job and workers rights for every American.
We have the power to end poverty and guarantee economic human rights.
We have the power to make health-care a human right through an improved Medicare for All system.
We have the power to provide education as a right and abolish student debt.
We have the power to create a just economy.
We have the power to protect Mother Earth.
We have the power to end institutional racism, police brutality and mass incarceration.
We have the power to restore our Constitutional rights.
We have the power to end our wars of aggression, close foreign bases and cut military expenditures 50%
We have the power to empower the people.
Stein, who also ran for president in 2012, talked about her candidacy in an exclusive interview withDemocracy Now! on Monday. Among other things, Stein highlighted one major difference between Greens and the mainstream political parties: “We are part of a party that does not accept corporate money and that does not accept money from lobbyists nor from corporate CEOs or surrogates of corporations.”