President Barack Obama, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney. Barack Obama. Mitt Romney. Obama. Romney. Obamnnnnnnotgonnagothere.
Looking for something different? Leaving aside (but only for the moment) former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, here’s a candidate running for the Oval Office who offers a different perspective on things than the mainstream candidates do.
Peta Lindsay, the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s candidate in the 2012 presidential election, has been included in “The Jezebel 25: Kick-Ass and Amazing Women We Love.” See: http://jezebel.com/jezebel-25/.
The list was released by leading feminist website Jezebel.com, which boasts 3 million readers in its five year history, “to honor 25 game-changing women who we think embody what we’re all about: names you may know, names you should know, and names you’ll be hearing much more about in the future.”
Ms. Lindsay was previously featured by Jezebel in a February 17 article titled “Introducing Peta Lindsay, Your Young, Black, Female Presidential Candidate.” See: http://jezebel.com/5885738/meet-peta-lindsay-your-young-black-female-presidential-candidate.
In writing about Ms. Lindsay, Jezebel editor Dodai Stewart highlighted her record of activism and leadership on struggles for women’s rights and economic justice, and against racism and imperialist war:
Even though she’s technically not old enough to hold the position, political activist Peta Lindsay is a black feminist running for president. A graduate of Howard University, Lindsay is an advocate for the rights of working people, and believes in prioritizing the leadership of working class women and women of color, who have often been historically sidelined in feminist struggles. Lindsay, who has been a feminist since childhood and got involved with the anti-war movement at the age of 17, says her campaign is in the tradition of the legendary Shirley Chisholm: “Knocking down barriers, demanding inclusion, refusing to be put ‘in our place.’ I don’t meet the criteria of the ‘typical’ candidate in a lot of obvious ways, and like Chisholm, I know the political and media establishment will use that to ignore or discredit my campaign. Considering all the racist attacks she faced, including assassination attempts, I bet her advice to me would be: ‘Don’t let the odds intimidate you, don’t be turned away, ignore the haters.’”-DS
See: http://jezebel.com/5920640/the-jezebel-25-kick+ass-and-amazing-women-we-love/gallery/3
The Party for Socialism and Liberation is running Peta Lindsay, along with vice-presidential candidate Yari Osorio, to highlight the issues facing working people and the socialist alternative to capitalism. In doing so, the PSL hopes to strengthen the mass movements in the streets, where real change comes from. See: VotePSL.org
The PSL is running on a ten-point program that includes recognizing a job as a guaranteed right, along with health care, education and housing, in addition to full equality for oppressed groups such as women, immigrants, LGBT people, and Black and Latino communities under the heel of mass incarceration and police brutality. See: http://www.pslweb.org/votepsl/2012/statements/10-point-program-lindsay-osorio-2012.html.
Perhaps socialism isn’t your bag, but the point here is that each of us should look for candidates that represent us as closely as possible—not merely for the one of only two options that is the easier for us to stomach.