Jill Stein and her running mate, Cheri Honkala with roots in Finland, are the Green Party candidates in the US presidential election 2012. They have not been invited to the large debates and have protested outside instead. Below on the grounds of Hofstra University, in Hempstead, New York.

I remember when my father-in-law went door to door campaigning for John B. Andersson, an independent candidate in the 1980 election. That campaign lead to Reagan’s victory who won over Carter. How can one change the U.S. Presidential Elections so that a third-party candidate could have a chance to win a presidential election? Today the independent or third party candidates have a limited support (1-3%).

First of all let them in to the debates!  Let democracy live int the USA! The presidential voting system might also have to be reformed for a third party candidate to have a chance. There is dissatisfaction with the system in the US today and from a European perspective the voting system certainly seems rigid, undemocratic and unjust. Third-party activists are working hard even if we never hear about them in the mainstream media and third party debates do exist in the US.  We never hear about them either, at least not in the Nordic countries. I have talked to friends here in Finland and they are often surprised that there are other candidates.

ActivismNetwork.net has an interesting article worth reading – Top Myths about the Ineffectiveness of Third Party Voting

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