League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
San Francisco, San Mateo County, CA November 2, 2004 Election
	Harland Harrison Answers Questions Candidate for United States Representative; District 12

Read the answers from all candidates.

Questions & Answers

1. What can be done to ensure that California gets its fair share of federal resources?

Cutting federal spending can make the system more fair to California, but the current pork-barrel politics will always short change a state like ours. As the most populous state, our two senate votes count for less per person. As a high-earning state, California pays enormous taxes, and can never hope to get the same share back. Scrambling for a "bigger piece of the pie" may make a legislator look good, but his constituents actually lose because they pay higher taxes for that pie. Only reducing the burden of the federal budget will make the system more fair to Californians.

2. What are your foreign policy priorities for the United States?

In making foreign policy, we should first realize that nobody hates us! But when our government brutalizes people, some of them will try to get even. Since safety and peace are my highest priorities, I want to stop the "war on terror", withdraw troops from Iraq, and stop providing weapons and money to Israel. Our aggression has made us less safe, not more. The US attack on Iraq killed more than 5,000, horribly burning many civilians. The entire world saw the US lie and betray agreements. As a result, resentful individuals strike back against US soldiers and their allies. Meanwhile Israel uses our weapons to oppress the Palestinians, stealing their private property, killing their children, crushing their houses, and denying their freedom. Many Palestinians willingly die to get even. The United States must quit this vicious game, must bring the troops home, and must stop supporting such oppressive regimes, if we wish to live in peace and safety in the world.

3. What are your priorities for the federal budget?

My priorities are to cut spending and to balance the federal budget every year. As a principle, we should never use the federal government to do anything which the states, private industry, or other governments could do. The current budget contains huge, unnecessary, expenditures which exist only to benefit special interests. The US does not need troops in Japan or Europe; they can defend themselves. Agricultural products like soybeans do not need subsidies; American farm products already saturate world markets. There are so many federal grant programs, that some companies make a business of telling people about them!