{"id":36,"date":"2008-10-05T19:00:59","date_gmt":"2008-10-05T23:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.libertyunionparty.org\/?p=36"},"modified":"2008-10-05T19:02:19","modified_gmt":"2008-10-05T23:02:19","slug":"diamondstone-on-slate-for-19th-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/?p=36","title":{"rendered":"Diamondstone on slate for 19th time"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday, October 5, 2008
\nTimes Argus
\n[Barre – Montpelier, Vermont]
\nDiamondstone on slate for 19th time
\nhttp:\/\/www.timesargus.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20081005\/NEWS01\/810050388\/1002\/NEWS01<\/a><\/p>\n

October 5, 2008<\/p>\n

By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau<\/p>\n

At 73 years old, Peter Diamondstone may well be the most prolific
\ncandidate for public office the state has ever known.<\/p>\n

Since 1970, when he launched his inaugural bid for attorney general,
\nthe socialist stalwart has run for various offices under different
\nparty banners every two years.<\/p>\n

“I think this is the second time I’ve been a candidate for governor,”
\nDiamondstone said Friday.<\/p>\n

This year, he bears the Liberty Union tag, a party around which
\ntrue-blue Vermont socialists have coalesced since it earned
\nmajor-party status in recent years. He unabashedly calls himself the
\n“Castro” of the Vermont Liberty Union Party, and he revels in
\ndiscourse on socialist polemics.<\/p>\n

“Socialism is the only way \u2014 it’s not even an option anymore,”
\nDiamondstone says. “Capitalism requires violence as a tool of policy.
\nIt requires the exploitation of resources on the planet. It requires
\nthe exploitation of people.<\/p>\n

“Socialism has its problems,” he says, “but at least we can stop
\nexploiting the planet and people and stop using violence as a policy.”<\/p>\n

God help the reporter that asks Diamondstone why he’s “running” for
\noffice. Over the years the Brattleboro grandfather has developed a
\nsensitivity to media verbiage. “Running,” he says, is for athletes,
\nhorses and warriors. He prefers to view his candidacy as part of a
\nstatewide hiring process.<\/p>\n

“When you use the language of sports and war, words like ‘run,’ people
\nin journalism need to do that to sell papers and get people to
\nlisten,” he says.<\/p>\n

Diamondstone has his own way of getting people to listen. As a
\n“fringe” candidate \u2014 another term the former lawyer abhors \u2014 he is
\noften treated as a black sheep, ushered from the pack to ensure
\nspeaking time for the more “serious” contenders. He has been arrested
\nmore than a half-dozen times \u2014 most recently in Waitsfield at a
\ncandidates forum in July \u2014 for trying to insinuate himself in debates
\nto which he wasn’t invited. He notes that he has never been brought to
\ntrial or convicted for any of the alleged transgressions.<\/p>\n

“Silencing opinions robs the whole human race,” says Diamondstone,
\nparaphrasing John Stuart Mill. (During a 90-minute interview, he also
\ncited Noam Chomsky and Albert Einstein, whom he described as one of
\nthe “most perceptive people in the science industry.”)<\/p>\n

“Most people interpret the First Amendment to protect the right of the
\nFourth Estate, to protect speakers, politicians,” Diamondstone says.
\n“I don’t really interpret it that way at all, and I don’t think the
\npeople who wrote it interpreted it that way.”<\/p>\n

The purpose of the First Amendment, Diamondstone says, is to ensure
\nthe public’s right to hear what people like him have to say.<\/p>\n

“That’s the point of the First Amendment \u2014 that the people are
\nentitled to hear and read the opinions of everyone,” Diamondstone
\nsays. “Not that I have the right to speak them, but that they have the
\nright to hear them.”<\/p>\n

Diamondstone has plenty to say, and he’s carried his message to
\naudiences of varying sizes around the state. He differentiates between
\nhis long-term goals and short-term policy initiatives. The former
\nincludes, most notably, Vermont’s secession from the United States of
\nAmerica. Following the $700 billion Wall Street “bailout” approved by
\nCongress on Friday, Diamondstone says, the issue of secession ought
\nnot to seem controversial.<\/p>\n

“There’s just no benefit anymore,” Diamondstone says of Vermont’s
\nmembership in the United States. “If we force secession, we’re going
\nto work less, get paid the same and have more jobs for people.”<\/p>\n

As for his gubernatorial agenda, Diamondstone leads off with a plan
\nfor rehabilitating Vermont watersheds.<\/p>\n

“What we need to do is require all new parking lots to be unpaved and
\ngrassed,” he says. “It means they occasionally won’t be useful and
\nbusinesses will have to close. When it comes to those parking lots
\nalready in existence, when those pavements disintegrate, you can’t
\nrepave them. That’s how we stop runoff into brooks and streams.”<\/p>\n

He also promises to disband the Vermont National Guard.<\/p>\n

“We set up a civilian militia, and not a state militia, so the
\nnational government can’t shanghai people from Vermont to go fight in
\nimperialist wars,” he says.<\/p>\n

The Diamondstone economic agenda relies in large part on secession,
\nand includes the formation of a new “state bank” that issues Vermont
\ncurrency and a radical compression of income strata.<\/p>\n

Under Diamondstone’s plan, no one can make more than $75,000 per year,
\nand no one can make less than $15,000.<\/p>\n

“The wealthiest in Vermont will have to sell their yachts, that’s
\nall,” he says of a 100 percent tax on income over the proscribed
\nlimit.<\/p>\n

He promises an accompanying increase in quality of life. Workers will
\nbe guaranteed 30-hour weeks, four weeks of paid vacation and 10 paid
\nholidays.<\/p>\n

“Part of the economy is based on people buying stuff they don’t need,”
\nhe says. “Vermont’s going to change. We’re not going to buy stuff we
\ndon’t need.”<\/p>\n

Diamondstone wants to pay youngsters a wage for going to school,
\nshutter Vermont Yankee, and set up a Vermont Drug Administration to
\nreplace the FDA that presently regulates medicines.<\/p>\n

He points to high levels of wood alcohol in aspartame as evidence of
\nthe FDA’s malfeasance, and says recommendations for yearly mammograms
\nensure that women eventually contract breast cancer.<\/p>\n

“Mammograms cause cancer. Everybody knows it, because radiation causes
\ncancer,” Diamondstone says. “The people who are building these
\nmachines have to make money, the people in the pharmacy business have
\nto make money, and the hospitals have to make money. \u2026 It’s all about
\nmaking money.”<\/p>\n

Diamondstone is earnest in his vision for a more beneficent
\ngovernment. He says he hopes to bring Vermont closer to that vision by
\nwinning the November election, but doesn’t necessarily “expect” that
\nvoters are ready to make the leap.<\/p>\n

Still, he retains irrepressible optimism for a future, however
\ndistant, in which the populace embraces the ideals he’s spent much of
\nhis life espousing.<\/p>\n

“Socialism says no production for profit. Profit is how we destroy
\npeople, how we kill people. It’s all about markets,” Diamondstone
\nsays. “No more production for profit. Only production for need. That’s
\nmy kind of socialism.”<\/p>\n

——————————————————–<\/p>\n

**In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is
\ndistributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a
\nprior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit
\nresearch and educational purposes only.**<\/p>\n

——————————————————–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday, October 5, 2008 Times Argus [Barre – Montpelier, Vermont] Diamondstone on slate for 19th time http:\/\/www.timesargus.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20081005\/NEWS01\/810050388\/1002\/NEWS01 October 5, 2008 By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau At 73 years old, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-important-reading"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenmountainpeaceandjusticeparty.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}