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Rocky Anderson on Homeland SecurityJustice Party challenger for President; former mayor of Salt Lake City |
ANDERSON: Would Mitt Romney say that we should go over and attack North Korea because they have a nuclear bomb? How about Pakistan? How about China? How about Russia? We have an obligation, number one, to start reducing the number of nuclear weapons and provide that kind of leadership, because it's the United States who has led the way for other nations to build up their nuclear armaments. And if Iran feels like they're going to be attacked--and that's all they're hearing nowadays--of course they're going to consider building a nuclear capability to deter an attack. But there is no evidence that they have any nuclear capability. And it's an utter lie, totally baseless, for Mitt Romney to say that Iran is four years closer to building a nuclear weapon.
ANDERSON: This is how it works: The F-22 weapons program, Republicans and Democrats alike tried to keep it alive, even though the secretary of defense said it's an outmoded system, we've never used it, we're not going to use it--billions of dollars going into the system just for maintenance and repair. And it was Republicans and Democrats fighting for continued funding. And then you wonder, why would they do that? It's because the general contractor for that weapon system--they know what they're doing when it comes to Congress--they put in place contractors or subcontractors in 44 different states, because they wanted to take the bacon back home so they could brag about it when they run the next time. That is treasonous conduct, when people are looking out for their own political interests and hammering the American people, especially when there are so many unmet needs in this country.
ROMNEY: President Bush and I are different people, and these are different times. And that's why my five-point plan is so different than what he would have done.
STEIN: There's been enormous bipartisan collaboration on the expansion of the war, and the list goes on.
ANDERSON: Bipartisan corporatism and militarism is what now defines both the Republican and Democratic parties. Barack Obama was partially correct when he said our debt problem is due to these massive Bush budget-busting tax cuts, but what he left out was the military budget, the wars and the cost of cleaning up after the economic disaster facing this country starting in 2008. And they still haven't done anything to make sure that we don't face that kind of economic meltdown again.
ANDERSON: Certainly, our government is supposed to keep us safe, but more and more, United States citizens are worried about being safe from our government. Our Government is spying on us. Even when there was illegal spying under the Bush administration, what did the next president, President Obama do? He said, let's not worry about those who violated federal laws when they spied on American citizens, let's just move forward and not look back. No accountability for a certain class of people. No sense of the rule of law controlling, no sense that we have a one-tiered system of justice. The Patriot Act needs to be repealed. We need to follow due process. We have a president who is targeting U.S. citizens for assassination. Where is the due process and that or indefinite detention?
STEIN: Yes, we certainly do need to hold government accountable.
A: Strongly Support
A: Strongly Oppose
"Imagine how others in other countries view us," Anderson said. "These are frightening times."