Talk to Sen. Richard Lugar

As of Wednesday evening we had received nearly 500 questions and comments for our current guest, Sen. Richard Lugar (news, bio, voting record).  He will be responding to selected questions on Thursday, Oct. 12.

Thanks in advance to Sen. Lugar for participating, and thanks to readers for speaking up.

Sen. Richard Lugar

A Rhodes Scholar, Sen. Lugar was a naval officer in the late 1950s.  In 1967 he was elected mayor of Indianapolis, holding the office for two terms.  In 1976 he was elected to the Senate.

During his 30 years in the Senate, the Indiana Republican has held a variety of notable positions. Currently he is the chair of the

Sen. Lugar has been vocal in his support of developing ethanol alternatives to oil, and has argued that ethanol makes sense not only for economic and environmental reasons, but also in support of national security. He has been active in working to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and more recently has focused on the flow of conventional arms as well, with the aim of limiting terrorist access to these weapons.

Below are some highlights of the questions and issues raised for Sen. Lugar by Yahoo! readers. Given Sen. Lugar's position on the foreign relations committee, many of the comments concerned international relations, so we begin with those.

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On

News that North Korea had conducted a nuclear test sparked a number of posts such as this one: "Now that North Korea is alleged to have done a nuclear test, effectively putting them in an elite club of nations that possess such weapons, do you think that it's time to play hardball with North Korea? It just seems to me that talking to them may become far much harder if it is indeed true the North Koreans detonated a nuclear bomb."

Another reader raised the broader issue of weapons proliferation in the wake of the nuclear test. "My question is, if we cannot stop North Korea from developing nuclear weapons, how do we prevent them from selling or giving that technology to either a rogue country (namely

A third raised the issue of engaging with North Korea. "The U.S. has for many years imposed sanctions and embargos on countries whose governments for whatever reasons acted contrary to U.S. policy. There is a lot of talk currently about tightening sanctions on North Korea and toughening travel restrictions to Cuba. Can you give me some examples of when, where, and how such sanctions have produced positive results, rather than simply impoverishing these countries' citizens, making them weak and incapable of effecting change in their own countries, and breeding resentment toward the U.S.? Are there other means of bringing about positive change in foreign countries, even those who are hostile toward the US, without the use of sanctions, embargos, or military action? It seems to me that trade and good will with China has done much to bring about change in that country. Could not trade and good will be such alternate means? I am not so naive to think that there are not risks to this approach, but it seems to me there are great risks regardless. Again, I very much appreciate your time and consideration of my questions."

On

"When the United States was first considering invading Iraq, you commented that maintaining order in Iraq after it was captured would extremely difficult. In view of your prescience in this matter, what do you recommend doing to resolve this situation in which we seem to be going nowhere."

On the Middle East

"Justified or not, the United States' reputation has taken a beating worldwide since the outbreak of the Iraq War. Particularly in the Middle East, where we were not a beloved nation to begin with, mention of the U.S. seems to evoke immediate and strong negative reactions. What can we do to reverse this course and start to win the battle of worldwide public perception?"

On nuclear weapons

One reader worried that insufficient funds have been committed to nuclear nonproliferation, writing: "The numbers I have seen were at its current funding rate of $1B it would take until 2020 to secure all the loose nukes in the former Russian-states. What is being done that accelerate this effort to ensure they can't be acquired by terrorists? If you could do one thing to strengthen this program what would it be?"

But another reader wondered why the focus isn't on more powerful countries: "Why are we and the other countries who have the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons, asking countries that we have threatened time and time again (like Iran and North Korea) to stop trying to make nuclear weapons? Don't you think it is disingenuous for the nuclear big shots to have these weapons of mass destruction and not expect others to attempt to have them?  Why don't you suggest that the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia destroy their weapons before telling others to do so?"

On agriculture and energy

One reader asked why the U.S. does not redirect farm policy to generate ethanol: "Farm subsidies pay billions of $'s a year for not growing corn. Why not have the Federal Government pay out the same amount of money for these subsidies but grow corn and turning the expenditure into a national [ethanol] product and not a subsidy?"

But another sought a different solution: "Senator Lugar, enormous subsidies for American corn are distorting trade worldwide, while midwest ecosystems are dying from soil erosion and pollution from corn farming. Why not re-direct those subsidies to help farmers transition to restoring the land to be attractive for tourists, hunters, fishermen? We would all be better off."

On weapons - in America

"I was very pleased to read about your efforts to extend the nonproliferation program to conventional arms. ... [But] we must first stop the proliferation of these deadly weapons in America! We must make it easier for people to get counseling and mental health support rather than guns. What are your thoughts on this?"

On term limits

"What is your view on Congressional term limits? Your work in the Senate over the past 30 years has been greatly appreciated, but I worry about a politician from any party who has power for that long."

On online gambling

The senate's inclusion of a ban on online gambling as an attachment to an unrelated bill drew anger from some readers. "Senator Lugar, why has the senate passed a prohibition on online gambling rather than studying the issue further with respect to regulation? We know from history that prohibitions only move the activity underground creating unnecessary illegal activities, especially when those activities are as popular as poker."

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Thanks for your questions and thoughts on these topics and other matters of politics and policy.

And thanks again to Sen. Lugar and the readers for taking part in the discussion. We expect to post his reponses on Thursday afternoon.

Next: Talk to Rep. Tom Davis

Previous: Rep. Kendrick Meek responds

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