CHARLIE ROSE: Some argue that the sacrifice had been primarily by the men and women in the armed services and their families. And part of the reason that we ought not go to war, in which the American people are not asked to sacrifice behind the military.
NANCY PELOSI : Well, the one percent of our population is feeling this in a very personal way. And that`s just not fair. The shared sacrifice -- what did we do? We went to war, and the president gave a tax cut to the wealthiest people in America instead of saying we’re going to have a shared sacrifice here so everyone knows what the cost of this war is.
But we have -- the long-term costs of this war in Iraq are tremendous. You can`t even quantify them when you talk about the breakup of marriages, the mental challenges that many of our troops are coming home with, the domestic violence that is occurring, the divorce rates in the military. This is -- this is a different flavor than we have seen before.
Rose also lamented that America’s still sitting in the "bunker of 9/11" on immigration policy:
ROSE: Do you think in some ways we`re still living with the fear of 9/11, and in terms of some immigration policies that are destructive for our own future? That we are in the bunker of 9/11, even today, seven years later?
PELOSI: Well, I would certainly hope not, because that would be a victory for those who would frighten -- the terrorists -- whose goal is to terrorize. But there are a couple of things. One immigration and trade, because many people in our country think that they are losing their jobs because of trade or because of immigration. And for some of them, they are right, but not for many of them.
Much of Pelosi’s time on the February 28 broadcast was devoted to pushing the Democrat "Innovation Agenda," which, in a nutshell, means heavy government intervention in techno-pork, as if we are all still Keynesian pump-primers:
ROSE: What is the role of government in that to stimulate that kind of process? Is it an education bill that encourages and purchases the use of technology and brings together the smartest people we have, whether it`s on the West Coast or in the Northeast?
PELOSI: Throughout our country -- in our country. Our Innovation Agenda goes right to this point. Our point is, let`s not have arguments of whether we should trade or not. Of course we should. We have to innovate in order to prevail, to be competitive. Innovation begins in the classroom. But innovation can also change the classroom. So we have to encourage that kind of change for the future.
It`s not just in our country. In other parts of world there`s a realization that teachers can know better how children are learning by the use of technology. And we have to either get that technology or task for it, but it is -- there is a federal role in it. There`s a federal role in making sure that we have broadband across America.
ROSE: OK. That`s a fascinating point, because a lot of people go to Japan or South Korea, where the broadband penetration is significantly larger than it is in the United States. How do you promote broadband penetration from the legislative level?
PELOSI: Well, a couple of things. First of all, it`s part of our Innovation Agenda. It`s one of our key points. Second of all, it`s part of our infrastructure agenda.
ROSE: Right.
PELOSI: Because it is part -- should be part of the infrastructure initiatives of our country.
ROSE: Not just roads.
PELOSI: And you -- it`s not just roads. This is very important, because it can cause such a disparity in access to information, whether it`s for education or health care or social services or what -- but in terms of education, it has to be -- it has to be universal, that every family in America has access to high speed, always on, broadband.
ROSE: Right.
PELOSI: And we have to have federal initiatives to encourage this in rural America and in urban America.
ROSE: And do you have a price tag on that?
PELOSI: Well, we want to see public-private partnerships so that it`s not all a federal price tag. So, public-private partnerships, and with the technology some of it gets less and less expensive.
Elect the Democrats, and they'll amend the Bill of Rights to add the right to high-speed Internet services. Amazing.
