Russ Diamond has withdrawn from the Governor’s race. In a statement recorded in the Harrisburg Patriot News, Russ said, “I’m calling it a day.”
Needless to say, we are greatly disappointed in the news. We thought better of our readers that they would support Russ and help him overcome the artificial handicap of not running as a Democrat or Republican.
Sadly, Russ Diamond fell about 35,000 signatures short of the required 67,000 signatures to get on the ballot in November.
Even more sad is the fact that this impossibly high requirement is set against third party candidates by the Republicans and Democrats for two reasons: first, it keeps third party candidates to a minimum, and second, it protects one or both parties from vote-total inroads against them by those third party candidates.
There is no legitimate reason why third party candidates should be required to amass more than the Republican or Democratic candidates 2,000 signatures. In that sense, Russ out polled both Rendell and Swann by 14-1.
The effect of this stupidly arrogant election law is that Pennsylvania voters are now stuck with three choices for governor: Rendell, the tax and spend Democrat; Swann, the empty suit Republican; and Marakay Rogers, the Green Party candidate.
Ms. Rogers met her goal of 100,000 signatures with the help of the Republicans in western Pennsylvania who called for contributors to help her and US Senatorial Candidate Carl Romanelli. $40,000 later, they had their signatures. Of course, the goal of the Republicans here is to cut into the Casey and Rendell votes as the Green Party is, in many cases, farther to the left than the Democrats, and both Rendell and Casey work out as somewhat moderate Liberals.
But legitimate candidates should not come only from the two parties. And the playing field should be level. It is reprehensible that the two major parties have stacked the deck so high, and thus cheated the Pennsylvania electorate of alternatives to their big-money driven party platforms.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the death of Democracy and the advent of a Plutocracy (government by the wealthy).
You major parties have maneuvered themselves into the position that only wealth counts, only wealth can make the decisions for the party, and only wealth will get you elected. In return, you will pass legislation and make decisions based on what the wealthy desire.
You no longer have any influence with your elected officials. How can you when you do not really have any choice of who those elected official are?
And all of us are responsible because we allowed it to happen. We did not demand our representatives act appropriately, and legally, and turned a blind eye when they unconstitutionally passed legislation. We turned a blind eye when our Governor raised our taxes his first year, installed gambling his second year, sign a clearly illegal pay raise into law his third year, and then tried to defend it, and gave us an insult of a tax increase his fourth year. And most of all, we have ceded control of our state Republican and Democratic parties to the wealthy.
The only hope left is to turn out the incumbents in November. And you can, like I will do, take your pen into the voting booth and write in Russ Diamond’s name for Governor. At least your conscience will be clear on that one.
I hold little hope for Reform now, because we have no voice in the Governor’s race. We have the Reformers, and we have the candidates from the soon to be defunct Clean Sweep. Right now, that is all we have.
What a pity. What a crime it will become in the legislature, where crime is already the order of the day.
We have no candidate for Governor, or Lieutenant Governor.
Montana is starting to look attractive.
THE CENTRIST
We support Russ Diamond for Governor!
We support the Roadmap to Reform!
“Kick the hubris out of Harrisburg!” -- THE CENTRIST
"It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs." -- Albert Einstein
Remember in November! Before you vote, GettysBLOG!
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