Mr. Klein posits that assassinating foreign leaders is "banned by Executive Order." Is Mr. Klein forgetting that this is the same CIA that led our country into a premature war by convincing President Bush and his cronies that Iraq had a WMD program. I understand we are fighting an unconventional war which requires unconventional means. Personally, I am in favor of limited eavesdropping but provided it is not against the law and comes with proper judicial oversight. Mr. Klein, I wonder how many other secret Executive Orders have been issued. Question is: Do you?
M. Faiyaz Hussain
Chicago

JOE KLEIN: No, I don't. But I'm reasonably certain that those issued do not include assassinations of foreign leaders. As for the CIA, it seems pretty clear that its analysts strongly disagreed with the bigshots on WMD and the Iraq war in general. Finally, just because the Bush administration has been wrong—and purposely misleading—on some very big things, it doesn't mean that it's wrong or misleading on everything.

I heard you on This Week just now saying that young people have an obligation to sign up for health insurance. Do you think that insurance companies have an obligation to insure young people too?
Carolyn Cutler
Altadena, Calif.

JOE KLEIN: Making health insurance manadatory is only a small, but necessary part of the big picture. We need a universal system, in which insurers have no choice but to cover everyone—and do so responsbly, if they wish to participate. Regular readers know that I've been in favor of an individual mandate system, which takes the burden off employers and subsidizes the working poor, who are not covered now. It's not a perfect answer, but I think it's the only practicable way to get to universal coverage.

I find it amusing somewhat that we are up in arms about the (perhaps) incursions by Mexican police/army onto American soil. Having lived on the Mexican-American border in Douglas, Arizona, I can assure you that American border agents were ALWAYS dipping into Mexico for various reasons, always nefarious. It was big news locally, but now it isn't mentioned. Also, didn't our military just make a major transgression into Pakistan territory? Not much coverage here, but major in the rest of the world. What are your thoughts on this hypocrisy?
Kathy Landry
Tempe, Ariz.

JOE KLEIN: Always nefarious? I doubt it. And I'm absolutely in favor of any incursion into Pakistan that results in the death or capture of Al Qaeda figures.

Mr. Klein, Hamas has won the elections in the Palestinian territory. Do you think or feel the Arab world is moving to the extreme, where radicals and Islamic fundamentalist are gaining power. Is this a sign of the Arabs' approval of terror?
Kanu
Columbus, Ohio

JOE KLEIN: I think the Hamas victory is primarily a sign of Palestinians' impatience with the old, corrupt political establishment. Extremists tend to do well in elections where democracy has been imposed prematurely; they offer easy answers and connect with public frustration. Hamas now has a choice—to govern or to fight. It can't do both. As for the more general question about Arabs and terror, most of the Arabs I've met are not extremists—but they do take a certain, covert satisfaction when their enemies suffer, which will be disastrous for them in the long run.

I think you have been equally critical of both parties, although I think Time has begun to lean very much to the Left. I am a moderate conservative, and by no means partisan. I think our government has overall become more and more dysfunctional, and that Washington no longer serves the better interest of the people. Do you feel that, in the state of disrepair our government seems to be in, it can move forward to take on the issues of health care, education, domestic terrorism and immigration?
Robert T. Atwood
Rome, N.Y.

JOE KLEIN: No, it can't. Not so long as the radical Republican ideology of the past 25 years remains in force. This is a philosophy that disdains common action and long-term planning, and you can't deal with those issues if you believe "Washington" is an epithet.

I've been thinking a lot lately about how the federal government chooses to spend my tax dollars. I haven't been able to get behind a single budget package proposed by the current administration (and Congress!) since its inception. The Senator I voted for won his election. The Congressman I voted for won his election. And yet, despite the fact that my particular congressmen are not in the majority, I feel that that issues that are important to me as an American citizen—and a patriotic one at that!—are rarely addressed. My question is this: to what degree have special interests corrupted our democracy? I have a sneaking suspicion that I would find Socialism a lot less attractive if Democracy worked the way it was intended to work.
Sarah Weisman
St. Albans, Vt.

JOE KLEIN: Well, democracy is messy by nature, but it gets messier as a society grows older and special interests become more entrenched. We need an active and rigorous public to keep the pressure for reform constant--but that's hard when you guys seem a lot more interested in Brangelina and Brittney than in Tom DeLay. As for socialism, that myth fell with the Berlin Wall. Wealth is created through risk-taking and entrepreneurship. Governments are really bad at that.

You say America is not going to implode, but does that opinion take into account our increasing demand for and reliance on oil amidst declining supply?
Eric
Buffalo, N.Y.

JOE KLEIN: I assume--and this is a leap--that sooner or later, preferably this week, some President is going to realize that a radical energy independence program is absolutely necessary. But he (or she) will have to defy the special interests mentioned above.

President Bush feels that he has unlimited authority in questions of national security. Do you agree? Or do you feel that the President and other presidents must take care that the laws are faithfully executed?
Stanley Jacobs
Ann Arbor, Mich.

JOE KLEIN: No, he doesn't have unlimited authority. In the case of the NSA survaillance program--which I favor--he does have the responsibility to make sure that the Federal Intelligence Security Act (FISA) is updated to take into account the latest technology.

I have seen a few news articles in the past couple of days about how the Mexican military is coming into Texas to transport people and drugs into the United States. What can the U.S. government do to stop this?
Joseph Piazza
Chino Hills, Calif.

JOE KLEIN: Not up to date on this. But, boy, is that border becoming a huge issue--and the uniformed Mexican authorities have never been, shall was say, pillars of rectitude.

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