Jessy Diamondstone, a psychosynthesis life coach and a Vermont registered psychotherapist, is a political and environmental activist. She has served as chair of the Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party (formerly the Liberty Union Party).
DUMMERSTON-My candidacy for U.S. representative for Vermont follows that of the Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party platform. Issues I believe to be key to our state and beyond:
1. Homelessness and the epidemic of drug addiction. With up to $70,000 a year per inmate being dumped into a dehumanizing privatized prison system, we have access to massive resources to effectively address these issues.
2. Carbon emissions and the need for unwavering protection of our planet's exquisitely diverse and truly miraculous ecosystems.
3. Equally unwavering protection of women from government (or any other source of) control over our bodies.
4. Voter protection and election reform. We as a nation have become hostage to an economic system that is unsustainably growth-based and profit-driven while options abound for constructing a care-based economy driven by meaningful work and security for everyone.
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Last April, I received a very unexpected call from Justin Schoville, the chairperson for Vermont's Green Mountain Peace and Justice Party, asking me if I'd consider being a candidate for this office.
Having no desire to be a politician and being someone who prefers stacking firewood and mulching the garden over sitting at a computer, I accepted the offer reluctantly.
I recalled important teachers in my life who reiterated the importance of protecting our basic rights through rigorous exercise, the preciousness of free speech, and our democratic system, regardless of its loss of integrity by corporate lobbyists, its gerrymandered districts, its cross-checking, its unrestricted campaign funding, its corporate control of the media ... the list goes on.
I remember my teachers speaking of the fundamental truth that a healthy democracy requires that the people, not professional politicians, take active roles in governance, and above all else, that people have real choices on the ballot.
With this rich education behind me and a bold, carefully written and revised party platform before me, I offer myself in service to represent Vermont in Washington.
And though I was reluctant in accepting the invitation to be a candidate, should I be elected, I will be bold in my service to you.
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