17 Questions

Have you noticed debates have become a game to define your opponent and not yourself? I’ve never seen such worthless debates since the schoolyard argument over Ginger or Mary Ann. But here we are without a clear picture of the candidate’s soul because we’re clouded by useless questions and vague answers. For the sake of my sanity and a need to kill time, here are the questions I’d like to ask. But first, debates should have rules. And rule number one.

Do not tell us how your opponent voted on bills. This insults our intelligence; bills are always loaded up with pork spending no matter how important the primary article is needed. So let’s say there’s a bill to give crutches for handicapped orphans, but the bill also contains a million for a clown museum, a million for butterfly research, two million for fish tanks at a bus station, and so on.

It ends up like this, “My opponent wants homeless children to stay shackled to their beds. Look at his record, he voted against, blah, blah, blah…”

So we will have a trap door under each candidate’s chair. The first mention of the other guy, the door swings open and down they slide. The same fate would happen if the candidate goes over the allotted time. The first test of a President… time management.

I realize some of my questions are hypothetical, but sometimes that’s the best way to gauge a person’s first instinct when it comes to tough decisions.

Here we go 17 questions I’ve never heard, but needs to be asked.

Mr. McCain and Obama,

1. Define capitalism as you know it and do you consider yourself a capitalist?

2. Should corporations have a cap on their profits, if yes, what is the monetary cut off to redistribute their earnings? And who would get it?

3. Looking back 30 years to today, are we a more socialized country, less socialized, or about the same?

4. If any, what are the downsides to unions?

5. Should the government provide college tuition for every student?

6. Yes or no, are jobs more important than the environment? One word answer only.

7. If you could change anything in the Constitution, would you and what would it be?

8. Is the Canadian healthcare plan better than the United States medical system?

9. Have you ever blamed the US Government for something that’s happened to you personally? If so what was it?

10. Who do you seek spiritual guidance from and what role will your religion play in your Presidency?

11. On 911, what was your visceral reaction when you learned terrorist attacked the United States?

12. Is Iraq better off since Saddam Hussein was tried and executed? And should Americans care about the welfare of the Iraqi people?

13. If you had the choice to capture Osama bin Laden alive and bring him to trial, or kill him on the spot, what would you do?

14. With all that’s happened over the past four years, who would you rather have right now, George W Bush or Jimmy Carter in office? Neither one will not be an acceptable answer, pick one.

15. Does a father have any rights to his unborn child?

16. What percentage of your income last year was donated to charity?

17. Ginger or Mary Ann?

There you go 17 questions for a candidate, now I’m not a news anchor and I haven’t one degree on my wall, but I think those questions would help an undecided voter. But what do I know; I’m just an idiot with a keyboard.