A GREENER SIDE OF POLITICS

I staggered into Denny's on the warm Friday morning of Jan. 20
choking on Silas Dean Highway's fumes and searching crowded booths
for the man I had written to - Connecticut's Green Party
gubernatorial candidate Cliff Thornton. The big guy was at a window
in the corner perusing some documents. Among stock traders and truck
drivers we discussed politics and narcotics over pancakes.

DC: Why are you running for Governor of Connecticut, and why as a Green?

CT: If one does not understand racism, classism, white privilege,
terrorism and the War on Drugs - what these terms mean, how these
concepts work - then everything else you do understand will only
confuse you. I feel that the War on Drugs is at the center of most
problems and is two degrees from everything in our society. No
candidates talk about it, except for being "tough on crime" and
that's it. The Green Party has been asking me to run for years, so I
thought that this was a prime opportunity to expose the problem.

I am running to be a voice for people who want change. I'm interested
in attracting the tens of thousands who have dropped out and aren't
even registered to vote. I want to leave an impression. The Green
Party has stated it is looking to get 1 percent of the vote, but I am
interested in getting 5 percent to 10 percent. I think that's
possible, but it'll be very important to energize students at the
major universities, people who are going to have a very hard time
finding employment in this state soon.

DC: You've called for Connecticut to follow Rhode Island in
permitting medicinal marijuana. What are your opinions on other
drugs, and what inspired your conclusions?

CT: It's been a long journey, one that began two weeks before I was
to graduate high school when there was a knock at the door and my
grandmother told me to accompany a police detective to a field of
abandoned cars. In one of those cars was the body of a naked woman -
my mother - who had died from an apparent heroin overdose. There are
no thoughts to describe how I felt after that, except that all
illegal drugs should be eradicated from the face of the earth.

Yet, as I watched my native Hartford going downhill decade after
decade, I began to question what authorities were doing. Eventually I
met these two surgeons at Hartford Hospital in the late 1970s/early
1980s and told them about my mother. They said that they used heroin
to steady their nerves for surgeries. Obviously surgery is
complicated and, in order to stay steady, they used pharmaceutical
heroin and didn't become addicted.

DC: There seems to be many contradictions in drug laws. Even though
medical-marijuana is permitted in 11 states, the federal government
still considers it illegal inside U.S. borders. Colorado is a
medical-marijuana state, but their police have arrested Denver
citizens even after a referendum made small quantities of pot
permissible in that city.

CT: Right, Denver decriminalized it, which is different from
medicalization and legalization. Most people use these terms
interchangeably, but they mean different things. In Denver, if you
possess more than a decriminalized amount, you're breaking the law.
Medicalization means putting something under the control of doctors
and legalization would be something like cigarettes or alcohol.

I advocate outright legalization of marijuana and hemp. I want to see
marijuana, alcohol and cigarettes all being sold at a single place to
limit children's access-the proper age being 18. I want to see
heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy medicalized. I want to
see other illegal drugs decriminalized and debated publicly.

DC: I've read that you used to be a businessman.

CT: I worked with Southern New England Telephone for 20 years in
middle management, in charge of internal telecommunications.

DC: How do you view the relationship between government and the marketplace?

CT: I believe in free trade. I believe all markets should be open,
but there have to be restrictions to let the little guy compete.
Major corporations can implement restrictions to cut out small
competition and absorb profits. We have five corporations that
basically own print media in this country, which causes pretty myopic
news. Another example is the telephone companies where, after there
was some divestiture, littler businesses had grown. Eventually,
though, those with the largest coffers came to completely control the
telecommunications industry. Our country once fought off monopolies
and we need to do it again. In order to go back to that, there needs
to be divestiture.

DC: So what is the underlying problem facing our society?

CT: We have been lulled to sleep. The authorities orchestrate fear
campaigns, terrorize the populace and make people believe everything
that they hear. You have to understand that the drug wars are built
on three phenomena: greed, racism and fear. It's a perfectly volatile
mixture and most people are just too busy working to contemplate or
challenge it. We are given a simple equation - On one side we have
drug dealers and cartels, on the other side we have the authorities -
bureaucracies of law enforcement, courts and prisons. Supposedly both
sides are diametrically opposed to each other, yet both are
completely against what I advocate. What's wrong with that picture?

DC: Well, the paramount concept in political philosophy seems to be
individual versus collective interests - liberal against
conservative, libertarian against populist, capitalist against
communist, anarchist against fascist. What are your thoughts on the
principle dynamics of that relationship?

CT: Diversity is our strength. Out of all the groups, Democrats and
Republicans are the ones in power. What we need is another voice
because Democrats and Republicans espouse the same values and do not
effectively address public concerns. They have become Republocrats
like, in this state, Joe Lieberman. Having different political
interests is a good thing, but when two factions remain securely in
power it becomes a lot harder to get things done.

Elections only uphold fairness when individuals have the liberty to
express authentic beliefs. When free choice is inhibited, the inner
workings of government become corrupted and cancerous. Third parties
are blamed for Bush's rise to power, despite him actually losing the
2000 election and winning an entire majority in 2004. Independents
will forever ignore denigration and continue supporting people like
Ralph Nader, Michael Badnarik, Pat Buchanan and Ross Perot because
they symbolize a third way in politics-ballots of rebellion cast
against stagnant duopoly. For his part, Cliff Thornton isn't offering
Connecticut a winning ticket, only a sincere rally for democracy and freedom.