What if . . .

Representative Ron Paul(R-TX) made the news recently when he joined with other Congress members to call for a timeline for bringing our troops home from Iraq. I would doubt that Bush and the neo-cons will tolerate him much longer. Representative Paul is a maverick, a modern day Smedley Butler. This article by Rep. Paul on the National Endowment for Democracy is very provocative. George W. Bush has successfully marketed himself as a "man of the people." I submit that the majority of people do not want our government meddling in the affairs of other countries. I further assert that meddling in the affairs of other nations is an elitist notion. If you glance at the titles of Rep. Paul's other articles, you will probably find that he has some ideas with which you agree and some with which you disagree. I suspect him of being more a libertarian than a liberal or conservative. I also suspect that he and General Smedley Butler have one other thing in common--mistrust of government, especially government controlled by large multinational corporations. I propose the following questions for discussion:
1. Is there any intervention in the affairs of another country that has turned out positively for their citizens and for the United States?
2. Is there a moral component to removing jobs from the United States, leaving people unemployed, and moving the jobs to another country, thus avoiding US taxes, paying much lower wages, having no prohibition against child labor, no standards for working conditions or safety, as well as avoiding many other protections and benefits we take for granted?
3. Can there be true democracy when money buys access to the election process, control of the news media, and unlimited access to the elected by lobbyists?