To the editor:

I would suggest that we begin demanding straightforward answers on important questions from our two presidential candidates before it is too late.

I would like to know what each would do when and if a nuclear device (blue prints from Dr. Kahn of Pakistan) goes off in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles or, God forbid, all three?

Which of them understands that we are being invaded by three million illegals every year and has a workable plan to stop it?

Which understands that fighting a war without paying for it and giving huge tax breaks to the richest among us undermines the dollar and inevitably creates runaway inflation?

How can we save the middle class from being destroyed by free instead of fair trade? As the middle class goes, so goes the nation.

How can we keep from being bled white by the balance of trade with China?

How do we keep the Persian Gulf oil flowing when we are faced with a nuclear Iran?

Which of them understands that the United States of approximately 270 million population can never be the police force for a world of 6 billion (1.4 billion Islamic) souls?

Which of them understands that trying to establish democracy in Iraq (27 million population) with only 138,000 troops has about as much chance as the children’s crusade of the Middle Ages?

The only thing that is at stake here is merely our future as a nation.

E.G. Hickam,

Lawrence