vermont's third party—no longer just a fan club | vanguard press | june 27, 1978
TRANSCRIPT
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8/11/2019 Vermont's Third PartyNo Longer Just a Fan Club | Vanguard Press | June 27, 1978
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F a c e sa n d P l a c e sV e r m o n t ' s T h i r d P a r t y :N o L o n g e r J u s t a ' F a n C l u b
by Lou Siegel
S talVing people cannot eat jetplanes," explains PeterDiamondsrone, Liberty VOlon
candidate foru.s. Congress. Ifelected, Diarnondsrone will
work "to develop a policy in
which we substitute the sale offood for the sale ofarm s. "
The 43 year old former New
York City allorney who lives in
Brattleboro, -rejecrs the entire
basis for American foreign
policy. '" function under the
assumption, ., he says, " t h atnobody should be compel1ed to
pay for (or fight in) somebody
else's war." He adds that,
"nationhood is an artificial con-
cept" and "pauiotism is a
defense mechanism".
Diamondsrone's unorthodox
approach to foreign policy i s
complemented by the
imaginative fiscal reform ideas
advanced by 72 year old EarlGardner of Newfane, a can-
didate for the party's guber-
natorial nomination. Assertingthat a socialist is as unqualified
to fix the economy as an
economics professor, Gardner. a
manufacturing engineer w ith amasters degree in English, ap-
proaches economics "from the
point of view of an engineer."
Of the past I 00 years , 33 bavebeen years of depression, he
says. "If you had a car that was
in the shop one-third of the
time you would gerrid of it." If
he i s elected governor, Gardner
would set out to totally restruc-
ture the Vermont economy.
The Liberty Union party hasbeen agitating the Vermontelectoral prOCeSS since 1970.
Although the party has neverwon an election, it h a s receivedover five percent of the
t t id t d d j
needs to grow in new ways, to
organize and bring people
together.
There was no illusion of win-
ning, he says, which gave Liber-
ty Union candidates the chance
"to get up and say exactly whatthey meant with no com-
promise." Sanders insists thatthe party's revolutionary ideas
were not laughed at: "We
talked to working people and
we got through to working
people". And he believes that
he was effective. "If you say
tha t we have to rake over the
banks and have a substantial
number of people vote for that
position, that idea suddenly
becomes acceptable reality," he
argues.
Peter Diamondstone admits
that without Sanders and other
wel1 known party figures, Nancy
Kauffman and Martha Abbott,
the parry lacks dramatic
spokesmen. Bu t he sees a com-
pensating factor. A cult had
arisen around these three mem-bers. "Without them", saysDiamondsrone, 'we can no
longer be seen as a fan club."
Speaki ng of this year's can-
didates, including himself,Diarnondsrone notes that the,. charisma is not so over-
powering as to keep people in
awe ... Wc're not groupies and
we're not a club, we're a real
political parry".
Beside Gardner and Diarnon-stone, twO other Liberty Union
people have announced. Guido
Condosra of Guilford will run
for attorney general. The 66year old retired auto mechanic,who now repairs TV sets and
makes cello bows, said that, "Idon't want to be a leader." If
elected, Condosta will be "a
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8/11/2019 Vermont's Third PartyNo Longer Just a Fan Club | Vanguard Press | June 27, 1978
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however, nor for the statewideoffices of secrerary of stare,
auditor of accounts, ortreasurer.
Diamondsrone says he would
welcome a challenge to his
Liberty Union nomination. Sofar, no Democrat has shown aserio.us interest in runningag a in s r Republican
Congressman Jim Jeffords,
making Diamondstone the in-
cumbent's only opposition.Diamondstone insists that he is
ru nn in g to w in. "I'm n ot a neducator," he says, ''I'm a
good politician ... .! know the
traditional ways of the politicianand I use them."
His political ideas are notphilosophical, but programaric,
says Diamondstone. Heproposes, for instance, a $3,000
minimum guaranteed incomefor all Americans. This would
eliminate the need for social
workers and let the air out of
the social serivce bureaucracy;"according to Diarnondsrone,
the plan would create more
choices for people. Even
children would get money. "I
want children to have the op-
tion to leave their parents." Healso believes that children
should have the right to vote.
Diamondsrone would alsowork to impose a $50,000 ayearlimit on personal income. In the
capitalisr system, he says, "wekeep rewarding the winner,
making the loser less and less
able ro compete." He feels that
corporations should be similarly
restricted in profit making. "If
a corporation has all the
privileges of a person," he says,
"it should have the obligations
and responsibilities."
Inhis race for governor, Earl
Gardner may be forced by
financial considerations to cam-
paign solely on weekends. Theidea of a "weekend candidacy"
is endorsed by liberty Union as
a statement on thediscrimination faced by working
people who want ro participate
in the political process.
Inflation will be one of Gar-
~ner's main campaign issues.He blames the economic illness
on three factors: war financingthrough bond issues rather than
taxes; corporate borrowing ofenormous sums; and . 'a
deliberate campaign by inter-
national f inanciers to drivedown the value of the dollar."
By borrowing at interest rates
below the inflation rate, multi-national banks and corporations
maintain a high level of in-
flauon, explains Gardner. The
average person, however, earnsbank interest that is below the
double digit inflation rate, in
effecr losing money on his orher savings.
To remedy inflation Gardner
propose s a new system, usingcomputet technology, thatwould au toma tically balance
the price of all commodities. If
the price of soap increased, for
example, the cost of all other
goods would then be reduced to
compensate for the increase.Gardner feels it is not im-
proper for th is approach to be
used on the state level. If the
federal gqvernment won't act,
he says, it's up to the state.
Gardner will seek legislation to
prevent manipulations by
limiting the size and number of
cotporations that do business in
Vermont. He isn't worried that
these corporations might refuse
to do business here. "Vermontdid very nicely before the big
corproations came here.... Wehave more dependable, more
S m a l l F a c e s
Vermont journalist HamiltonDavis fared well in The New
York Times book reviewsection
last week. Reviewer Jeff Green-field labeled Davis "a first-rate
reporter with a taste for hardfacts and clear writ ing" in ashort critique of MOCKING
JUSTICE, Davis' chronicle of
undercover cop Paul Lawrence.
Winooski Democratic Rep.
Randy Niquette is back in cit-
culation after..surgery to removea tumor last week. "With
Elr/ G"rdnerond Peter DIIJlnondslone
lire in the race
intelligent workers thananyplace else ... .If I'm elected
governor, I will stan businessesin every little comm unity."
Gardner's other concerns in-clude free health care and in-
surance for aJl residents. non-compulsory free education for
people of all ages, abolition of
the sales and property taxes,distribution of fuel at COSt,and
the closing of Vennont Yankee
nuclear power plant.
In 1976, gubernatorial can-
didate Bernie Sande" receivedover 9,000 votes. Polls haven't
yet assessed what percentage ofthose were protest votes and
how many were an endorsementof Sanders' radical politics. If
liberty Union returns in 1978hover around five percent the
party may be labeled a home forperennial losers,. . But the Vermont electoratepaid virtually no attention to
the Democratic party for over acentury. Until reapportion-
ment and Phil Hoff, Vermont
had been the nation's most
fairhful Republican stare. If
liberty U nion c~n survive irs in-fancy, and growing pains, who
knows what could happen in
the nexr hundred years.
Loti Seigel of Brattleboro has
writ/en for The Valley Advocate.
today's technology it's in and
OUt in a couple of days," said
the legislator. "I feel grear."
Former Burlington residentRoby Colodny published a
poem in the May edition of
Monthly Review, an indepen-dent socialist magazine. Roby,
who worked as a housing ad-
vocate for PACT before moving
to Boston, is currently a dish-
washer at the Harvard School of
Public Health. His poem IStitled "Playing the Odds."
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