This comes from http://news.goldseek.com/DailyReckoning/1097004169.php
*** Our old friend and former presidential candidate Harry Browne sends some questions that he wished had been asked in the presidential debates:
"Mr. Bush, you said in 2000, and now you're repeating it, that the difference between you and your opponent is that you believe in smaller, limited government. But government has grown by nearly one-third in just the past four years. You haven't vetoed a single bill passed by your Republican Congress. Is this what you mean by limited government - limited to whatever YOU want?
"Mr. Kerry, every one of the proposals you've made to fix what you perceive as today's problems has been in the direction of more government. Are you saying that only government can solve problems - that government programs always deliver exactly as was promised - that no government program has made things worse?
"Mr. Bush, you said in 2000 that you wanted a humbler foreign policy than Mr. Clinton had. Then you told the rest of the world, 'You're either for us or against us' - meaning that any nation that didn't follow your leadership was to be treated as an enemy. And you also said you didn't believe in nation building, but now you're telling us you're going to build democracies in the nations of the Middle East. Can you give us an example of your humbler foreign policy - or explain how your dreams don't constitute nation building?
"Mr. Kerry, today federal, state and local governments spend well over half of all the health care dollars spent in America. In addition, insurance companies spend another quarter of the health care dollars only because of income tax policies. And yet only very small minorities of the American people are happy in this government-dominated health care system. Doesn't it seem decidedly not humble to suggest that you can make a situation made bad by government intrusion somehow better by expanding government intrusion?
"Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry, every relevant poll of the past 15 years indicates that the American people overwhelmingly think that government is way too big. And yet neither of you tonight has proposed reducing the size of government in any way. Two presidential candidates who have proposed reducing government dramatically have been shut out of these debates. Do you think that's fair to the American people?
"Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry, for the past 60 years, our government has invaded and bombed foreign countries, propped up unpopular dictators who claimed to support the United States and bribed foreign countries to support a meddling U.S. foreign policy. No terrorists have claimed to hate U.S. democracy, freedom or prosperity, but they have stated unequivocally their hatred of U.S. foreign policy. My question is this: Do you consider the 3,000 lives lost on 9/11 an acceptable price to pay to continue a meddling U.S. foreign policy?
"And finally...
"Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry, has either of you ever read the Bill of Rights? If so, how do you square the Bill of Rights with your health care and education programs, your support of the Patriot Act, your allowing the government to lock away and forget about people who have never been charged with a crime?"
