The Democratic Party has come under fire for preaching their reverence for “democracy” while practicing something entirely different leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein has expressed her frustration as the Democrats employ every possible maneuver to keep her off of the ballot.
“I think we need to rename the Democratic Party. It's actually the ‘Anti-Democratic Party,' and I have had trouble with both of the organized parties — I wouldn't leave Republicans out of this either — but focusing on the Democrats here, they are pulling out all the stops to basically — to shut out political competition. Isn't that what democracy is supposed to be about? Democrats proudly announced in March that they had hired an army of the big elitist corporate lawyers to throw their competition like me off the ballot, and they are doing that. We currently have challenges in several states, but actually beat them back in Nevada. We beat them back in Wisconsin…They're throwing mud against the wall and seeing what sticks. They're dredging up any reason to challenge us, to drain us of our resources, and basically to shut us down.”
Breitbart News reports:
A New York Times article noted that Stein is on the ballot in California, Oregon, Montana, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Michigan, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Maine. Idaho and Delaware are in still in progress, and she has reportedly failed to qualify for New York.
Stein isn't the first candidate to be strong-armed by Democrats this election cycle. When Joe Biden was still in the race, the North Carolina State Board of Elections blocked RFK Jr. and Cornel West from the general election ballot under the assumption that they would siphon votes from Biden, but allowed the Constitution Party, presumed to siphon votes from the Republican nominee, to remain on the ballot.
Voters have criticized the Democrats for what they perceive as the coronation of Kamala Harris, who received zero votes before becoming the nominee. When she ran for president in 2020, she came in as a frontrunner, but after a disastrous debate performance, she quickly fell to single digit polling and dropped out shortly after. She was announced as the vice presidential pick as Joe Biden faced mounting pressure to choose a black woman to fill the role. Her tenure as Vice President has been more of a liability than an asset, and she's scrambling to distance herself from the current administration. In November of 2023, she had an approval rating of just 36%.
CNN's Chris Wallace noted that a mere six months ago, many high ranking decision makers in the Democratic Party were contemplating replacing her. Shortly before Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez uploaded a since-deleted video claiming that behind closed doors, no one supported the Vice President or believed in her. She's been thrust on the American people without any input from the American people, and that may have something to do with why the Democratic establishment is so desperate to restrict access to the ballot, and artificially limit choices.
