"SO SORRY TO YELL BUT IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE JILL STEIN WERE ELECTED PRESIDENT HERE IS A REMINDER THAT THE ABILITY TO IMPLEMENT HER LOFTY, PURE PLATFORM WOULD BE SEVERELY IMPEDED BY NOT HAVING GREEN PARTY MEMBERS IN CONGRESS THAT'S ALL THANKS BYEEEEE!"Update!
Earlier this week, Republicans approved a motion to begin debating the various ways they want to dismantle Obamacare. Every single Democrat in the Senate opposed this motion. This outcome should underscore two facts about the world in which we live:
(1) Democrats and Republicans are not, in fact, "just the same" or "just as bad as one another." (And, as I wrote last year, Jill Stein herself was a 91% "on the issues" match with Hillary Clinton, but *incoherent mumbling about neoliberals*);
and
(2) It is the height of absurdity to think that Jill Stein, or let's be real Bernie Sanders, could have waltzed in as President, having inherited this Republican-controlled Congress, and implemented single-payer healthcare. Although, I have to admit, it would be entertaining to watch Stein interact with Mitch McConnell and the Republicans, if only because she'd have to actually acknowledge their existence and obstructionism in the real world.
The larger point here is that presidents are not dictators in the US, at least not yet, although Donald seems to be trying his damndest.
So, every four years when the Green Party or whoever-the-fuck candidate with zero allies in Congress comes around promising some non-violent political revolution, particularly to the politically uninformed, it's worth pointing out that their platforms likely could never be implemented during their term in office without a major influx of allies in both Congress and the Judiciary.
Could they lay the groundwork for future progress? Sure. But that's something else entirely than the revolution these charlatans so often promise.
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