Monday, July 23rd, 2007
I’m with Jesse. Much as CNN is hyping the 2.0-nature of tonight’s YouTube debate, the fact that CNN producers are picking and choosing from thousands of questions sort of diminishes from the free-for-all atmosphere they’re trying to project. If CNN had guts, they’d ask, in order, the most popular questions posted to YouTube, no matter how absurd. Instead, my guess is that tonight we’ll get the same sorts of questions CNN’s anchors would have asked, only posed by “regular folk.”
Here are a few questions I’d ask the Democrats:
A recent study found that over half the country now derives part or all of its income from the federal government. Three of the richest counties in the country are in the D.C. suburbs, a telling indicator of just how bloated with taxpayer dollars Washington has become. The federal government is today pervasive in our day-to-day lives, from cradle to grave, from the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep. Do you think these trends are healthy? Looking at the premise of this question, would you agree or agree federal government is getting too large, too influential, and too pervasive?
The government is made up of people. Flawed people, just as the private sector is. But when private people make mistakes, the consequences are limited to them, and perhaps a few people around them. When a government official makes a mistake, it can affect millions. Isn’t it better to let the American people make as many as their own decisions as possible? What makes a government bureaucrat more qualified to make decisions about the average Americans life than the average American?
In the same vein, can you name five government agencies that are either superfluous, anachronistic, ineffective, or otherwise no longer necessary, and that you would eliminate? To make things interesting, let’s take everything under the Department of Defense off the table, with the acknowledgment that there’s plenty of cutting to be done there, too.
Do you think it’s appropriate for drug cops to be making medical policy?
What is your philosophical approach to federalism? What issues do you feel are best decided at the national level? What issues should be left to the states? Is there any underlying principle you use in separating one from the other, or would you make such decisions ad hoc?
Do you believe the U.S. military should be deployed for humanitarian missions?
Do you think an atheist could be president? Do you think an atheist should be? Assuming you generally agreed with an atheist on more issues than the alternatives in a given election, would you vote for one?
Name five things you think are none of the federal government’s business.
What is your view of the pardon power and executive clemency? Should it be used frequently? Should it be use to show mercy and forgiveness or to correct injustices that slip through the cracks? Neither? Both?
Do you think the criminal justice system is adequate in its present form? Do our criminal courts achieve the just outcome in an acceptable percentage of cases?
When the two are in conflict, do you believe a politician is obligated to vote for his own principles and values, or for the will of the people?
Is there any type of speech you believe should be criminalized?
Do you promise not to claim for yourself any of the executive powers you’ve criticized the Bush administration for claiming?
Do you think it’s appropriate that the minority party in the senate can filibuster the majority? Would your position change if your party was in the minority?
What is your position on Kelo vs. New London? Under what circumstances would it be appropriate for a government to seize land from one private party and give it to another?
If elected, will you fire all of the U.S. attorneys appointed by President Bush?
What federal crimes will you instruct the Justice Department to make a priority during your administration?
Do you think a journalist should ever be tried for treason for making public classified information?
Are there any currently private industries that you believe are “too important” to be left to the private sector? Oil and gas? Health care? Google?
America by far and away has the highest prison population in the world. Does this concern you? Are there any federal crimes you feel should be repealed from the books, or devolved to the states?
Should violations of regulatory law be criminalized? That is, should people go to jail for violating EPA, OSHA, or other regulations? Or should they merely be fined?
Would capturing Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri be a priority for your administration? How would you go about doing it?
Do you believe we’re winning the war on terror? Are we doing all we can be doing? Are we overreacting? What would you do differently?
What’s your philosophical approach to risk assessment and the precautionary principle? Do you think government should ban products, treatments, and procedures until they’re proven safe, or permit them until they show signs of being unsafe?
Do you think it’s a legitimate function of government to protect people from making bad decisions or prevent them from developing bad habits? Even if those habit or decisions don’t directly affect anyone else? How far should the government in preventing bad habits and bad decisions? In other words, should the government’s role be merely advisory, or should it criminalize things like gambling, pornography, drug use, or trans fats?
At what point a child’s rights supercede a parent’s rights? Should a Christian Science parent be allowed to deny his child basic medical treatment? Should parents be allowed to teach their children to be racist? If parents believe some vaccinations are too risky, should they be permitted to decline them for their children?
Should members of Congress be required to follow all of the laws that they pass?
Should members be required to read each bill before voting on it?
Would you support a requirement that each law be limited in scope and subject, so members wouldn’t be required to cast a single yes-or-no vote on bills that have multiple amendments covering a variety of issues?
Would you support a sunset provision requiring Congress to revisit and re-pass each law after five years?
Do think presidents should be term limited? What about members of Congress? If you didn’t give the same answer to each question, what’s the difference?
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on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 6:05 pm by Radley Balko
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