Mitt Romney just promised, “I will not cut our military budget.” That means that the rest of America is going to continue to pay for an immensely bloated military budget, and for America’s bad habit of going to war. He says he’ll pay for America’s wars by slashing the government programs that actually provide concrete benefit to Americans. Mitt Romney just promised, “We’ll get rid of program after program…”

Barack Obama just pledged that his budget won’t reduce high military spending, but will maintain it.

There are alternatives to Romney. Two of them are debating from a remote location tonight.

Democracy Now is allowing Americans to hear Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein and Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson join Mitt Romney and Barack Obama in tonight’s 2012 campaign foreign policy presidential debate.

The candidate were just asked to speak to the proper role of the United States in the world.

From Jill Stein’s response:

“This a military which is now six times the size of the next biggest spender… This is a military budget that has doubled in size since the 2000… Yet we are not twice as secure… We could cut that military budget in half and still be many times larger than the next biggest spender.”

“We need to say no to this expanding war for oil, this attack on working people in America.”

From Rocky Anderson’s response:

“Our role in the world is to abide by our other sacred treaty obligations.”

“The most important issue in terms of the long term impacts… is the climate crisis, and our nation… continues to abdicate its highest responsibility to provide international leadership on the climate crisis.”