Longtime activist Peta Lindsay is not just the only woman running for president of the U.S. in this year’s election, she is also the only socialist candidate on the New York state 2012 ballot.
But under the U.S. Constitution, Lindsay, 28, is not eligible to become president because she is less than 35 years old. Despite being ineligible to become president, Lindsay said she and her running mate Yari Osorio, are running for president on the Party for Socialism and Liberation ticket, a party she helped form, because they are more interested in “building a movement” than campaigning for votes and moving into the White House.
“People [approach] these elections looking for change, you’re told the way you get change is through the ballot box,” Lindsay said. “For us the priority isn’t getting votes … we’re entering this election to challenge the electoral system and to let people know that … The politicians are not going to fight for you, you have to organize and fight for yourself.”
Lindsay and Osorio have achieved ballot status in 13 states covering every region of the country. She is the only socialist candidate on the New York state ballot. She is on ballots in the Northeast, South, Midwest, and West.
Lindsay said she thinks the presidential election is a “sham” and a rigged game against working and poor people. She said people can’t sit on the sidelines waiting for politicians to “bring change” because they will be disappointed.
Osorio said although President Barack Obama is the lesser of two evils when compared to Mitt Romney, Obama is not a friend of the “99 percent” and has failed to carry out any agenda that would benefit people of color, immigrants, the working class and poor people.
Osorio said banks, which he and Lindsay believe are a form of organized crime that rewards greed and fraud with “obscene” bonuses, are the biggest contributors to the Democratic and Republican parties during presidential campaigns and they have power over the election.
“Banks only invest where they know they’re going to get a return,” Osorio said. “We want to dispel myths … [about the] illusion of choice and democracy … this country is very undemocratic.”
Osorio explained that the biggest difference between socialism and capitalism is the concept of ownership. In a Socialist system the people own the industry and decide how the money should be used. The capitalist system in the U.S. places a high value on private ownership. He said although the production of everyday goods is socialized, meaning that hundreds of people are working together to produce a service or product, the fruits and benefits of their labor goes into the hands of one or two people, the owners.
Lindsay and Osorio said another reason they are running is to publicize their campaign’s 10-point program, a list of goals and plans which could help the country transition from a capitalist system to a socialist one.
People in the U.S. already have political rights, such as the right to vote and protest. Lindsay said that in addition to having political rights, people should also have economic and social rights such as the guaranteed right to a job, which is a part of the candidates’ 10-point program. The first part of the 10-point program is to make having a job a constitutional right.
Lindsay said millions of Americans are jobless or under-employed because of the capitalist system and believed that a decent-paying job should be a guaranteed right and minimum wage should be raised to $20 per hour.
“The working people of the United State generate the tremendous amount of wealth … our work create the wealth of this country. So we believe that wealth should be used to fund the things we need [like economic rights] …we should have a right to a job,” Lindsay said.
Other demands that are part of Lindsay’s presidential campaign include making free health care, free education and affordable housing constitutional rights; shutting down military bases around the world; stopping what she calls racist police brutality and mass incarceration; providing equality for women and free, safe, legal abortion on demand; abolishing anti-immigrant laws; and making same-sex marriage a federal right.
Lindsay said an ideal way to fund this program is by seizing the banks and shutting down U.S. military bases around the world. She said since banks “torpedoed” the economy through their fraudulent practices such as student loans, the people should seize their “ill-gotten” profits.
“It really just amounts to all our money. We should take our money back and use that to fund these programs,” Lindsay said.
Osorio said banks are currently sitting on more cash deposits than they ever had before.
Osorio pointed to a New York Times article published a year ago that said banks have more than $8.9 trillion in deposits and they don’t know how to use that money.
Lindsay said the money from banks could be used to provide free education, cancel everyone’s student’s debt loans and end foreclosures.
“A lot of banks wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t for working people,” Osorio said. “Their existence has caused suffering.”
Osorio also said there’s a surplus of homes that aren’t for sale because they are not “profitable.” He said there are enough homes to house all of the homeless people in the nation.
Lindsay also said the money used to fund the military budget could be used to relieve students and homeowners from their loans instead of “using it to slaughter people abroad.”
Osorio said a socialist system could work in the United States because it has advanced means of production. He said we have enough goods and money to house, feed and school everybody.
“Socialism can only work when you have a surplus of things,” Osorio said. “The United States is ready.”
