Over the last few months I have talked to a lot of different people about a lot of different things. I learned about the struggle of independent voters. I saw how a single individual can help fight for election reform. I’ve seen thousands of people on the internet that care about truth, freedom and equality and I’ve felt the highs and lows of this community. I saw that government often stands tall to protect us all, but doing so casts a dark shadow. Opportunists will move about freely in this shadow to make deals and fill their own pockets and point fingers.

Government is a monolithic structure that we collectively build upon, it is here when we are born and it is our duty to be certain that it’s intact when we die. It’s supposed to protect us, but also be a byproduct of our collective beliefs. The more I see, the more I think that our government is running on fumes; sputtering and choking because the greedy have used up all of the resources, burned all the bridges, and people aren’t buying the old lies anymore.

The two party system has dominated for ages. It’s a neat way of giving people the illusion of choice, and the sense that things are either right or wrong and good or bad. A silver-tongued snake born into a trust fund of gold has hijacked one party, and all of the corporate money has flowed to a single candidate whose been embedded in the political system for decades. Meanwhile, a wild-haired man with big ideas and a thick Brooklyn accent has infiltrated the other side and preached a new political paradigm of philosophy and ethics. He waves his arms during a speech only to realize that it’s chained to a heavy blue donkey, restricting his movements and stifling his words.

The Green Party seems to be the only self-aware political party, stating in “A Call to Action” that, “We are the ones that we have been waiting for.” This party bears no chains, and has no monetary strings attached. As wealth has slowly shifted to the hands of fewer individuals, and this same wealth has infiltrated our political system through Super PACS, we have seen more and more civil unrest on both sides of the aisle. Clearly people want something different, and the Green Party is excited and prepared to be that voice of opposition.

The Green Party platform is direct and comprehensive, focusing on democracy, social justice, ecological sustainability and economic justice and sustainability. At the moment many people feel betrayed by Bernie Sanders and are joining the Green Party. Scott McLarty, the Green Party’s Media Coordinator says they are “welcoming Bernie supporters who are coming over” because they require more people to “build a permanent progressive alternative to the two parties of War and Wall Street.”

Jill Stein is the presumptive nominee of the Green Party. She’s a self-proclaimed physician, not a politician, and she believes that America is sick and needs to be healed. Stein believes that our country is facing an “existential crisis”. Climate change is threatening the safety of our species and the ecological balance of our planet, endless warfare is creating more enemies and violence, college debt is putting my entire generation into economic servitude to the federal government, and the wealth of our nation is slowly being siphoned from our pockets by individuals hiding way up in the skyscrapers of Wall Street.

Voting for a third party in 2016 will not “spoil” the election. That was a myth created in 2000 after that debacle in Florida. This misunderstanding survives the same way wealth distribution has somehow become politicized: people have trouble with math. Additionally, it’s 16 years later and there are more people identifying as independents than any other party, and that figure doesn’t include the many people who have chosen to not affiliate whatsoever (No Party Preference: NPP voters).

The real issue is the overwhelming number of people who don’t vote at all. Perhaps they choose not to, but as many states adopt more voting laws it appears many people try to vote and simply can’t. During the primaries there were places where people had to wait hours in line to vote. How many people simply couldn’t wait and walked away? No, a vote for green will not split or spoil anything.

Jill Stein makes a compelling case: why vote for a candidate simply because you fear the other more? Democracy means participating in a system of representation to express what you want, not what you fear. Jill has no corporate deals to adhere to, just an agreement with her supporters to represent them or perhaps even you. Her party is a group waiting for anyone and everyone. So what do you want?