A Vote for Kamala Harris is Misguided: Jill Stein Offers A Real Choice

by Addison Novosel-Fitzpatrick

As a Michigander who has found the Israel-Gaza war heartbreaking, I find any idea of voting for Kamala Harris extremely misguided. 

While Israelis continue to protest their government and call for Benjamin Netanyahu to bring the hostages home, he refuses to end his campaign in Gaza. As President Biden makes empty promises to the American people, saying that he is working tirelessly for a ceasefire, he and Vice President Harris have spent a record-breaking amount of close to $20 billion on military aid to Israel since October 7th. The IDF continues to kill civilians, flatten cities, destroy cultural buildings and landmarks, target journalists, and withhold humanitarian aid. Even after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Vice President Harris continues to say that Hamas’s threat to Israel “must be eliminated” while barely acknowledging the thousands of protestors across the United States who demand an immediate arms embargo. 

I have attended protest after protest in Michigan, demanding an immediate ceasefire, and I have met many Arab-Americans and seen their suffering firsthand. I met a woman who had lost over 80 family members, and I think of her often. I have seen her at many protests, heard her speak at city hall meetings, and I remember the trembling and cracking in her voice as she spoke–the anger, the fear, the diminishing of hope–and this brought both her and I to tears. My heart aches for people like her, and I wonder for how much longer this genocide of Gazan peoples will continue. How isolating it must feel to lose your entire family, just for your own government to fund it and attempt to silence you as you fight against it. 

How much longer can we wait for Kamala Harris to see past the over half a million dollars she has received from AIPAC and open her eyes to the genocide that is being funded by the American taxpayer, who cannot afford rent or groceries, or who lost their home to hurricanes Helene and Milton, or who cannot afford basic healthcare? How many more Gazans must lose their homes, be bombed, burned alive in tents before this nightmare ends? When does the “self-defense” of Israel cross the line for Kamala Harris? The reality is that Israel is not the only state that will be prosecuted for their war crimes–the United States government has just as much blood on their hands.

Jill Stein offers a third choice for people like me. You may believe that Jill Stein’s votes take away votes from Kamala Harris, as many Democrats love to say that “A vote for Stein is a vote for Trump.”  Quite frankly, I simply would not vote without this third party option, and many others who are voting third party likely also would not. I am sick and tired of having to pick between the “lesser of two evils”–both the Democratic and Republican parties are corrupt, both are evil. I want to vote for a candidate who aligns with my anti-war, and pro-people morals, and that candidate is Jill Stein.

As a Jewish, anti-Zionist woman, she has attended countless protests, standing alongside college students to fight for a complete arms embargo of Israel. As president, there would be not a single moment of inaction in ending this horrific war. On top of this, her proposal of an Economic Bill of Rights would establish the right of people to a living-wage job, guaranteed livable income, housing, healthcare, childcare, lifelong education, secure retirement, utilities, healthy food, and clean water. She wants to end student debt and medical debt altogether. She is for the American people.

I implore undecided voters who may be reading this to check in with your humanity before casting your vote in this election. Do your research on all of the candidates proposed to you–not just the two most popular options. Vote for the change that you want to see in the world, and do not fall for the empty promises of the Democratic and Republican parties.

Regardless of who you vote for, your voice matters and you should vote to elect a president that is not just the “lesser of two evils” but that is there to serve you and your fellow Americans.