Vote Green in Third District

Voters in Connecticut’s 3rd Congressional District have a stark choice in this year’s election.

Green Party candidate Justin Paglino has a thoughtful, science-based approach to the serious problems facing our country and our world. He has clearly articulated his positions in his print and online literature. There can be no doubt where he stands.

The district’s incumbent is one of those Democrats who insist the commander in chief is dangerously unstable (they may be right) — but then turn around and vote him even more war toys than he asked for. With the Pentagon being granted such a lion’s share of the discretionary federal budget, it should be no surprise that there’s so little left in the larder to meet actual social needs. Furthermore, with the Pentagon being the organization with the largest carbon footprint on the planet, the excessive military spending can only have horrifying global consequences.

One challenger cannot decide if she is a Republican or Independent. Her campaign literature is so vague that a voter cannot know for sure what posture she would take in D.C. How would she vote if a tie in the Electoral College required the House to choose the next president, as provided for under the 12th Amendment? Nor does she show her colors on the vital question of women’s reproductive choice: perhaps she hopes that won’t be noticed by voters in the city hosting both a flagship affiliate of Planned Parenthood and the world headquarters of the Knights of Columbus. She has, however, signed up with a dark-money group whose mission is to promote what they call “natural gas” (read: fracked gas). As if the climate catastrophe that is already afflicting us can be answered with continuing business as usual. Scientists call that posture implicative denial.

Our country and our world need legislators like Justin Paglino.

Jeffry Larson Hamden