Failure of the Political Parties: Who Was Best of the Worst?

The Green Party

As mentioned previously, this was supposed to be the year for the third party to rise up, the year to give America another valid option. An idea that the Green Party also believed they could capitalize upon. Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates, Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka respectively, had an open door in making a pitch as the “poster children” for Bernie Sanders, post his exit from the race. And Indeed, that was more or less what the route they too. Unfortunately for her, her misplaced stance on vaccines, especially as a doctor, may have been the largest problem people had with her. Add to that Stein’s crazy appearances in the news: one for an arrest warrant in North Dakota , another for an implication that 9/11 was “a controlled demolition” by “patsies,” and for a weird anti-WiFi stance.

The Green Party was on 44 state ballots and on the District of Columbia’s as well (DC). They may have a legitimate chance to become the fourth party to be on the ballot everywhere in 2020 but for 2016, they knew they had no chance. Stein herself even implied that late in her run for the Presidency. She wanted to make an impact and start a movement. All they had to do was roll by the textbook, stay cool, calm, and collected in front of the media, and make an effort to succeed, and honestly? The party that ironically supports gun control the most was the party that used 2016 to fail, and shoot themselves in the foot.

When’s the next time the United States is going to see another election as ugly as this one was? Hopefully, it won’t be for a while. And with that question, comes another one: When’s the next time the Green Party is going to have another opportunity as good as this one was, to make some noise? The Greens had every election since Ralph Nader’s 2000 run to play it safe and go through the process, in hopes to persuade maybe, at best, half a percent of the popular vote. 2016, however, wasn’t the year to do this. It was the year to throw the hail mary, and to go for the unthinkable. The Green Party didn’t put their best foot forward. They calmly sat down with an umbrella and endured the storm that was the 2016 election, and I believe in turn, failing the worst.