Jill Stein offers best hope to change broken Two-Party system

The biggest enemy of Arab and Muslim Americans isn't the pettiness or irresponsible rhetoric of Donald Trump. It's the history of the political backstabbing by the Democratic Party.

By Ray Hanania

FREE/Politics President/Monday Oct. 21, 2024

What impact will Arab and Muslim Americans have in the upcoming Nov. 5, 2024 election?

Republican candidate former President Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Vice President Kamala Harris have both chosen different paths to address concerns that Arab and Muslim Americans will drift away to a third Party candidate like Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party.

Though both their foreign policies have not been ideal, Trump has outreached to Arabs through a group of Arabs called Arab Americans for Trump.

In contrast, Harris has taken a dual approach appealing for meetings while at the same time attacking Arabs and Muslim who support Jill Stein the independent candidate. In fact, Harris and the Democrats have spent more time attacking Stein than they have in appealing for understanding from Arabs and Muslims.

Stein has no chance of winning the presidency, but she does have a chance of turning the Green Party into a major recognized political party and breaking the two-party system that has held Americans hostage.

As a candidate, Stein can secure at least 5 percent of the total vote in the Nov. 5 election and make the Green Party a recognized national party. The Green Party once was the base of Ralph Nader the influential Lebanese American advocate for consumer protection and environmentalist. He ran for president four times.

To read a good history of the Green Party, click this link.

Dr. Jill Stein. Photo courtesy of the Green Party

Democrats, like those in Illinois have been the most anti-Arab over the past several decades but Trump has not gone far enough to secure their support

Stein, who is marginalized by the mainstream news media, is attracting a large number of Arab American votes

It's clear no one has done more damage to Arab and Muslim Americans than the Democratic Party and several of its most influential leaders, especially in a Democratic dominant state like Illinois.

Here's a look at the history of Arabs and Muslims in Illinois.

ILLINOIS

Illinois is an example of what can happen under a Democratic controlled nation.

During his first week in office, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat and aid to former President Barack Obama, ordered the elimination of the Arab Advisory Commission which examined and challenged cases of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism.

Emanuel, whose father was a member of the terrorist organization the Irgun during the 1940s Jewish war against the British and Palestinian statehood, ended the annual Arabesque Festival which showcased Arab culture, music and food hosted by his predecessor.

His biggest problem was that the Arab music and cultural festival included references to "Palestine." Palestinians are the largest Arab population in Northern Illinois and the Chicagoland area.

As a consequence, Emanuel refused to be interviewed by Arab American media, including me -- though I covered Chicago City Hall full-time and part-time for more than 30 years. Click here to read my overview of Emanuel’s anti-Arab policies.

Rahm Emanuel, Illinois’ most anti-Arab and anti-Muslim politician ever. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Illinois has a history of boycotting foreign countries like South Africa which discriminated against its citizens, yet under Democrats Illinois was the first state to push and second state to adopt a law punishing anyone who expresses support of a boycott of Israel -- a foreign country that receives billions in American taxpayer dollars.

Under Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the legislature remapped Illinois Congressional Districts dividing the only Illinois District, the 3rd, which the New York Times identified as having the highest concentration of Arab and Muslim voters.

Once that was out, Illinois divided the 3rd District among five other districts, intentionally diluting the Arab American vote.

Let that sink in. Democrats undermined the voting power of Arab Americans. Not Trump. Not Republicans. Not radicals.

Pritzker and Springfield's leadership wanted to undermine Congresswoman Marie Newman, a progressive voice who was considerate of all her constituents, including Arab and Muslim Americans.

Newman was forced into an election fight with veteran Congressman Sean Casten, who abandoned the interests of Arab and Muslim constituents and whose policies have since been anti-Arab.

There are many good Democrats in Springfield and in Illinois. But many are anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and hypocrites when it comes to diversity and inclusiveness.

That's why I support Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential nominee.

Stein has openly embraced a wide range of issues including fighting crime, providing services to seniors and the needy, protecting the rights of homeowners and taxpayers, strengthening education, supporting women's rights, and taking moral stands on issues of foreign policy.

Ralph Nader, the first Arab American to run for President on the Green Party ticket. Photo courtesy of WIkipedia.

Democrats are afraid of Stein, although they constantly brush her candidacy off as they slander her. Some call her "anti-Semitic" because she criticized the extremist government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces three indictments for corruption.

But Stein is Jewish. Newman's husband is Jewish. The term anti-Semitic" is used as a bludgeon for political purposes, not to rightly confront ugly hatred of people who are Jewish. (In fact Newman’s husband is Jewish, and two of my family members are nuns. Several members of her family volunteered for Little Sisters of the Poor, including her mother. How much more diverse can one be?

Vice President Kamala Harris has not been a strong candidate. She was pushed in at the last minute without being openly endorsed in a public nomination process to replace President Joe Biden's whose debate blunders exposed the party's ability to hold the White House. She voices slogans and headlines, not solutions.

Democrats put up billboards in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Illinois warning the Arab and Muslim community will be “responsible” for electing Republican Donald Trump, who just can't seem to control his own pettiness and sometimes irresponsible rhetoric that overshadows his good conservative programs and ideas.

Democrats removed Stein from the Illinois ballot, but left Robert F. Kennedy Jr., on. Why? Because they know Stein will take thousands of votes away from Harris, and they hope RFK will continue to take votes from Trump -- even though RFK has endorsed Trump.

That is being done even though Illinois is an overwhelmingly Democratic state that Harris will easily win. So why waste the effort to block Stein and Arab and Muslim Americans? Out of racism, hate and spite by the Democrats.

It's typical Democrat leadership hypocrisy, empowered by a biased mainstream American news media which has lost its professional compass becoming partisan activists, not independent journalists.

It is Democrats who will be responsible if Trump wins, not the Arab or Muslim voters or their growing base of progressive and conservative allies who embrace fairness and justice.

Stein's goal is clear. To strengthen the Green Party by securing at least five percent of the presidential vote and thereby ending the failed Two-Party System.

There are too many selfish Democrats sabotaging the Democratic Party for their own political interests, manipulating the system as they claim Trump is manipulating the system.

When it comes to leadership, both national parties have failed. They both failed us stopping illegals who circumvent our legal immigration system, failed to address crime, failed to address the news of communities including seniors, and failed to live up the principles they claim to embrace but insult every day.

It's easy to vote for Jill Stein and help her achieve the 5 percent needed to change our failed Two-Party System, and maybe, help wake-up the news media which is driven more by politics than by truth.

On a Touch Screen ballot, select the "Write in" box at the bottom of the list of candidates. A keyboard will appear and you can write in Jill Stein. Nothing else. It's that easier to fix our screwed up Two-Party system.

You can make a difference. Democrats on the national level have left us no choice.