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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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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