Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012 is the first Presidential debate of the 2012 campaign. This first debate is one regarding domestic policy. The announced topics will be the economy, health care, the role of government, and governing.
Will they be worthwhile topics to explore each candidate’s philosophies or will they be so obscure as to leave both candidates enough wiggle room to answer however they choose based on the most recent opinion polling? Will we really get a significant debate or just more rehearsed lines? Will the moderator ask tough questions or toss softballs?
So in honor of this, let’s take a look at ten questions that I would like to see asked at the debate. There are in no particular order.
1. Both of you claim to have the answer in terms of job creation within the economy. What is the role of government in terms of job creation? Where in the U S Constitution is that role specified?
2. Explain in detail how you will eliminate first the deficit and then pay down the national debt. What programs will need to be cut, what departments will be shut down, and what austerity measures do you think we need to take as a nation in order to avoid following down the path of Greece, Spain, and all of the other nearly-failing states?
3. What is your understanding of the role of government? What are the most crucial things that government does for the citizens?
4. Explain how you think deficit spending helps or hurts the economy? Is deficit spending necessary to “prime the pump” or is it a form of taxation that drains the energy from the economy at large?
5. How do you propose to fund the hundreds of trillions of dollars in unfunded liabilities that previous administrations have incurred by massively increasing social welfare programs? Can they be funded or do we need to seriously curtail these programs in order to save the Republic from bankruptcy?
6. What is the role of government in healthcare? Can you cite in the Constitution where that role is indicated? With the rapid growth of healthcare costs in the last few decades, explain how your administration would lower costs within Constitutional limits.
7. Explain your personal beliefs of where the rights codified in the Bill of Rights originate. Do you believe that they are absolute or not? What modifications would you personally like to make?
8. When you speak about job creation, each of you promises lofty job growth numbers that seem impossible given the current economic climate. Explain what the typical job your plan would help generate would be. Would it be a temporary job, such as road construction, or a permanent job such as inside a machine shop?
9. Tell me who is a good leader in your mind. Why? Which of their characteristics do you want to emulate when governing?
10. Do you agree with the following statement. Why or why not? “To take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, “the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, & the fruits acquired by it.’” (Thomas Jefferson)
Dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
What questions do you want answered?
freedomsbrushfire 