Tough Questions...

Civil Liberties and Governance

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Civil Liberties and Governance
Question: Do you really believe the government would stage or allow an attack against its own citizens? Do you acknowledge that these have happened throughout history (Reichstag fire, Gulf of Tonkin, Operation Northwoods, etc). How much do you think we don't know about our foreign military operations, and how much secrecy do you think is necessary or healthy for the military and government of a democracy?

Civil Liberties and Governance

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Civil Liberties and Governance
Question: Steve Kubby recently described you, as others have, as a 'right'-libertarian. Why do you think you disagree with or show less enthusiasm for the more contemporary, 'liberal' side of libertarianism.

Civil Liberties and Governance

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Civil Liberties and Governance
Question: You've decried campaign finance reform as a limitation on free speech. What measure do you think are appropriate to limit lobbying from special interests in government? Or more broadly, what do you think

Contemporary Issues

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Contemporary Issues
Question: What about those racist comments?

Contemporary Issues

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Contemporary Issues
Question: What about being supported by so many far-right patriot groups? Are you concerned that groups with strong militant and racist histories, people who consistently support freedom for them and their way of life but not others'--want 'you' as their president?

Corporate Regulation

Mon, 23 Jul 07 11:27:10 -0600

Topic: Corporate Regulation
Question: Your distrust of government and its propensity to excess is legion in D.C. We all acknowledge that government can be tyrannical but can't it also prevent corporate collusion and corruption, act as honest overseer and regulator of industry, and protect its citizens?

Corporate Regulation

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Corporate Regulation
Question: If the government doesn't regulate the internet, who will keep in free from Corporate control? Competition can keep the internet effectively free, but what role might government have in ensuring this? You might comment on anti-competitiveness and anti-trust regulation? What does it say about the alleged perfection of free-markets that monopolies are not only likely outcomes but so much so that governments must seek to prevent them? Why is it markets vs. government in your eyes rather than government vs. corporations as in many others'?

Foreign Policy and Iraq

Mon, 23 Jul 07 09:25:10 -0600

Topic: Foreign Policy and Iraq
Question: You've come out strongly for a non-interventionist foreign policy that protects our national interests first and foremost. You've also suggested that in a more free society, a lack of federal bureaucracy and interference would result in more wealthy individuals, like Bill Gates and Bono and Warren Buffet, who could respond to humanitarian crises privately. Do you really see state-led genocide as amenable to individual private charity? Assuming you don't support UN involvement in these crises any more than US involvement, is there any degree of foreign outrage which you as an individual or a president would not tolerate? What about Darfur? Rwanda? The Holocaust? Is your idea of a non-interventionist foreign policy deaf to all calls of injustice so long as they are outside our borders or our direct sphere of interests? To what extent if any do you consider yourself a citizen of the earth rather than only of this one nation? Do you construe a President's Constitutional mandate so strictly or narrowly that you would not consider using the American government to help support if not enforce the rights provided to us in the Constitution to all people? Do you see this all working out better another way, or is it simply something we cannot fix and shouldn't pretend we're better off trying to?

Foreign Policy and Iraq

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Foreign Policy and Iraq
Question: Could it be “too late' for a foreign policy of non-intervention? What if there were terrorists who really were trying to kill us just because we're “free”. What then? What if Islamic Fundamentalism won't just go away?

Foreign Policy and Iraq

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Foreign Policy and Iraq
Question: Should we not borrow money to make the world safe for democracy? Are there any causes worth going into debt for?

Foreign Policy and Iraq

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Foreign Policy and Iraq
Question: Can we trust other countries with military, especially nuclear capabilities? Would you rather live in a world where every person has a gun and every country a nuclear arsenal or a world in which all had neither? (or perhaps a third possibility, where only cops and military had guns, and only the U.S. and its allies nuclear weapons).

Foreign Policy and Iraq

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Foreign Policy and Iraq
Question: Shouldn't we try to prevent a civil war in Iraq? Given the initial success of our intervention (epitomized by their election), isn't there some suggestion that it was not our policy that was flawed by our execution (too few resources committed, too little investment into building support among Iraqis, etc...)

Foreign Policy and Iraq

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Foreign Policy and Iraq
Question: Is this a new kind of war? Aren't we in a time of war?

Foreign Policy and Iraq

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Foreign Policy and Iraq
Question: Why do you assume world government is about control rather than creating a global community?

Free Markets and Welfare

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Free Markets and Welfare
Question: I understand that a philosophy of libertarianism is strongly rooted in the idea that people can and must support themselves. I am curious how you feel societies and/or governments should treat those who are starving, homeless, or invalid? (We'll assume, for simplicity, that they are American citizens). Do you acknowledge that markets can sometimes fail wildly, not to mention minds and bodies. Are there any scenarios where you feel the state has a duty to assist? If not, is it for philosophical objections or the pragmatic conviction that states really do more harm than good compared to local, state, and private initiatives?

Free Markets and Welfare

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Free Markets and Welfare
Question: The idea of an egalitarian society has long motivated Liberals, Progressives, and Humanists of all stripes. Despite your contentions that free markets genuinely are the most 'caring and humane' mechanisms for production and growth' do you see some role for guiding or correcting imbalances in society? Particularly after periods of prejudice and segregation (where people 'were' judged by their 'group'), can you conceive a role for a “transition” period during which restitution and redistribution could occur?

Free Markets and Welfare

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Free Markets and Welfare
Question: Are NGO's and non-profits signs the free-market has failed and needs 'support'? Would you rather allow private groups to fill in the gaps where markets fail rather than governments?

Free Markets and Welfare

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Free Markets and Welfare
Question: Are you morally or just practically opposed to socialism? What about Sweden or other countries in Europe who enjoy a large social safety net and still seem to thrive culturally? What do you think are the trade-offs of such an arrangement? Do you think they is sustainable? What makes you think people can't be better off when they have more security and 'less' exposure to the free market?

Free Markets and Welfare

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Free Markets and Welfare
Question: Can't markets fail? If they do sometimes, shouldn't the gov.'t step in to help?

Free Markets and Welfare

Mon, 23 Jul 07 08:46:02 -0600

Topic: Free Markets and Welfare
Question: Isn't there diminishing marginal utility to wealth? Over years some families accumulate estates and near genealogical empires. Even assuming these individuals acquired their wealth through entrepreneurialism and hard work, do you see a philosophical and economic justification for allowing new members of society to encounter a more level playing field. Though America is a land of opportunity, years of wealth concentration and capital formation do create a level of entrenched economic elites? Moreover, some individuals on this planet have billions of times more than they need to survive while others die of starvation... Isn't all of that an argument for at least some re-distribution?