Iraq
We need members in the military that are not afraid to tell the truth to the president and to the American people, and that is not what's happening, and as a result of that, we continue this debacle. The people in Iraq want us out. Who are we to say, oh, we're there to protect you? Are they stupid or something? They don't want our protection. Why? Because they're not getting the protection. They want to take back their own country, and they should.”
***
“I'm running for president because I don't know of anybody around that's prepared to end this war. And it should be ended. And the sooner we can pull American troops out, as soon as possible. And it can be done in 120 days, Charlie. And what we can then do is begin an aggressive diplomacy. And that would mean to go to Iran, go to Saudi Arabia, go to Syria. And tell these people, help us restabilize the region that we destabilized, and tell them we made a mistake in doing this. A tragic mistake, and it puts the whole world at risk of a possible nuclear confrontation.”
***
“First thing we’ll do is blow up Abu Ghraib before we leave. And then we’ll blow up Guantánamo, so we can communicate to the world that we don’t torture people. We are Americans and we are going to be calling upon a higher moral standard than we’ve seen in the last 50 years.”
***
“The best way to support the troops is not to send them into fraudulent wars. Our soldiers died in vain in the Vietnam War. The same thing is happening in Iraq. More soldiers are dying because we lack the leadership in the Democrat-controlled Congress to end the war.”
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Other Foreign Policy Issues
The answer is to engage with Iran. We forget that Iran helped us to whip the Taliban in Afghanistan. So, countries like Iran and Syria ought to be engaged. These countries have a greater stake than we have in the stability of the Middle East.”
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“And I made a pledge to the group in Maryland, the Jewish group in Maryland, that bringing peace between Israel and the Palestinians is going to be the first priority of my foreign policy.”
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“But now, with respect to Israel, the approach that I would use would be to use the full force of the American government in a diplomatic effort, backed by the European Union, Russia, China – all the countries who have a stake in the stability of the Middle East – to meld them together to provide a cocoon of safety for the moderates in Israel and the moderates in the Palestinian community to come together to fashion a deal, to fashion an agreement that would be along the lines, which we all know what they are, the 1967 borders, tweaked to satisfy some vital interests of Israel and to satisfy some vital interests of the Palestinian community.
Now, with that cocoon of security, marginalizing the violence that will occur because the crazies on the margins will always try to destabilize an agreement with their violence. We can’t let that happen anymore. And so this cocoon of moderates would arrive at an agreement and that agreement would be put to the people in Israel for a plebiscite, and for the people of the Palestinian community for a plebiscite. This is not a deal made by the leaders; this is going to be a deal bought into by the people themselves. And as a result of that, we will commit, under our leadership, a global effort to raise the standard of living in the Palestinian community equal to that of Israel and free up Israel so it can stop spending so much of its wealth on its defense posture. And that way, even improve its own society, because there’s a lot more poverty in Israel than people own up to, a lot more, and its tragic.
I can only say this about the Israeli leadership, and it applies equally to the corruption that exist in the Palestinian leadership, and the Israeli leadership is not without corruption. But, I have no stomach for hawks who lead the United States of America, and I have even less so for those who lead the nation of Israel or the Palestinian community. So, I make a pledge, a solemn pledge, and I think I can do it, I know I can do it. I will bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians and thereby diffuse the entire confrontation between the Islamic world and the West. That is worth doing. And I will not be deterred by any lobbying force from that goal.”
***
“North Korea was once a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, then withdrew in 2003 around the time George Bush invaded Iraq. I, unlike the current administration, support bilateral talks with Prongyang. I reject the Bush doctrine that dialogue with these countries is a "reward" for good behavior. Let's reestablish communication and move forward peacefully, rather than relying on military superiority and intimidation.”
Climate Change/Energy
“Not at all (to more nuclear energy). The solution obviously is wind power. If we manufactured 5 million of these 2.5 meg windmills across the country, we could electrify the entire nation -- the entire nation.”
***
“I would ask the Congress -- they won't do it -- but then I would empower the American people to do it, and that is to put a carbon tax on. If we don't do something drastic -- you know, we can get off the gasoline in five years and we can get off of carbon in 10 years. All we got to do is want to do it. And to put a tax on gasoline permits politicians and bureaucrats to play favorites. You do it right at the lump of coal, and you do it at the gas, and you do it at the oil, and then that filters through the system properly.”
***
“One of the things we can do is take electricity from windmills, run it through water, and have hydrogen. What is now possible is that we can turn around and have hydrogen liquid. And by altering the technology of our existing cars and gas stations, they can be used to run on and distribute hydrogen liquid. Oh, it blows you away. This can probably be done within five years.”
Healthcare
“I favor universal coverage of quality medical care. I favor it through a device of using vouchers where everybody would be able to get a voucher. They'd sign up for it every year. It would guarantee them equal health care. All citizens would get the same health care. They would be able choose from insurance plans or a government plan like Medicare. That's how we would have health care, and the only way you're going to pay for it is not by saddling business. All you do by forcing business to pay for health care or passing a law telling people they have to go buy insurance, which is a subsidy for the insurance companies, all these plans are going backwards.”
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Education
We need to get off of this agricultural-educational-designed system we have. Teachers want to get paid? Well, let them work year-round like the rest of the people. We need to have super teachers, and we need competition in education. We're not getting that, and we're going to continue to see the failure.”
***
“We need to rethink the way we finance education, and that is by a property tax that pays for it. Now, wealthy communities can have great education. Poor communities have terrible education. That's because they don't have a property tax, and so what we're fed is, oh, this is a state matter. The federal government has to weigh in not only with money but with some discipline to make our educational system work, and first, they have to make this the top priority. Isn't it embarrassing, Charlie, that Sweden, Spain—and I could name several other countries—they educate their children at no cost to the children from childhood to PhD? And this supposedly great country of ours can't even match that? Shame on us.”
Homeland Security
“Well, the first thing that I would do is to realize that terrorism is not a war. The war against terrorism doesn't make sense. We've had terrorism since the beginning of civilization, and we'll have it until the end of civilization. It must be treated as a criminal act.”
““We can't get the resources to match the rhetoric. In this latest budget, the president is proposing to cut funds for first responders to the tune of $1.7 billion. The way I see it, saying you believe in homeland security without funding first responders is like saying you believe in building a hospital without doctors and nurses. If we don't fund you, we're not funding our first line of defense, and we're going to need to work together to make that happen.”
Family
“I’d empty them [overcrowded prisons]. I couldn’t pass the law, but I will bring to the American people a law saying that we will do away with sentencing and we will educate people. The sooner we get them educated and bring them back into society and making a contribution, the sooner we will advance our society. And, of course, I believe we have to stop this war on drugs. It’s ridiculous. Drugs are a public health problem; they’re not a criminal problem.”
Taxes/Fiscal Policy
Well, the biggest problem we have domestically is our tax system. Under the current system, if you’re poor and have no income, you get nothing. Average people carry the load, and the poor are unattended. So, I advocate a Fair Tax. What we’ll do under this plan is send you a check every month for the sales tax that you will pay on the essentials of life. This will protect the poor. It will cover their basic expenses. The rest of us will pay as we spend. The more you spend, the more you pay. If you don’t want to pay, don’t spend. So, this will create a cash flow to the poor, not only to the average citizen.”
“Well, we want to keep some differential on very high- income people (the Alternative Minimum Tax), but that's part of this tax reform effort that Democrats will do starting in 2009. When we have a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic majority, we can get serious about making the tax system work for middle-income Americans again, instead of being tilted so much toward the rich.”
Illegal Immigration
“This whole nation should be a sanctuary for the war -- for the world, and bring the people in.
What's going on? Again, we're in fantasy land. We're talking about a problem -- we're scapegoating the Latinos of our society because we as a society are failing in education, we're failing in health care, we're failing in our crumbling infrastructure, and we're failing by invading countries and spending our treasure. That's what's wrong. And so I'm ashamed as an American to be building a fence on our southern border. That's not the America that I fought for.”
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“We need an amnesty program so that all undocumented workers can be registered and protected. We should no longer tolerate the underground economy that allows employers to avoid social security taxes and abuse their workers.”
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