With the elections just two years away, campaign season will soon be in full swing. Dems should be armed with questions that cut through the muddled, nonsensical thangs that are so much of the R philosophy and that will separate the women from the girls. Or, in the R's case, the old white men from the other old white men. And the young beauty queen. Is it just me, or does the Republican party sound like your typical strip joint? (I don't intend to insinuate that Sarah Palin is a stripper, or any other degrading sex object. I respect her as a woman and former Governor, who quit halfway through her first term. On second thought... that's worse.) Some ideas:
Stem Cell Research
Scientists generally agree that embryonic stem cell research poses the greatest promise for uncovering a new way to heal people from diseases like cancer and injuries, including spinal injuries that result in paralysis. If your daughter / son was in a car accident and they became paralyzed from the neck down due to a spinal injury, would you still oppose embryonic stem cell research that could one day allow your child to walk once again and to play with your grandchildren? Would you oppose this research that could allow your own child to lead a normal life, out of the confines of a wheelchair?
Abortion
1) You are vehemently opposed to abortion on the grounds that it is the taking of a human life. If your daughter became pregnant as a teenager, would you demand she have an abortion or would you just talk with her about this choice? If you wouldn’t demand it, why do you seek to demand it for every daughter in the country?
2) I understand that you are someone who believes that abortions are the murder of a fellow human. Given that abortions are occurring everyday across America, do you believe there is a genocide going on in your own country? And would you intervene militarily, if need be, to save these human lives? Would you intervene militarily in foreign nations that allow for abortions, since you truly believe these are human lives being lost?
Torture
1) If US forces captured a high level al Qaeda operative in Afghanistan with potentially valuable information on future planned attacks, what if water-boarding doesn’t yield results? Would you allow our forces to pull their fingernails off or surgically remove limbs if conventional interrogation techniques did not work? And if not, why would you put American lives at risk just to uphold the human rights of a single terrorist?
2) Would you permit water-boarding or other forms of torture to be employed on American criminal suspects in local police stations across the country if the suspect had information that could save lives? If not, why not?
Sexual Orientation
1) So much of politics is considering the world from someone else's shoes. If your son or daughter were gay, would you be disappointed? And would you sit them down and explain to them why you don’t believe they should ever have the right to get married?
2) As a gay man, I am telling you that I never chose to be gay. I grew up in a normal two parent household in the suburbs, went to public schools, and played with toy trucks as a kid. My father was a journalist who loves basketball and my mother a preschool teacher and small business entrepreneur. Like many gay people, I spent many years wishing I weren’t gay, trying not to be gay, because people in society like you told me it wasn’t normal, that it wasn’t natural, and that I had a choice. Do you still think being gay is a choice and do you think that message coming from many national leaders is harmful to children and encourages prejudice at all levels of society?
3) If you are open to the idea that being gay is a choice, when did you choose to be straight? And could you choose to be gay right now? If so, my number is 555-658-5326.
4) Do you believe there is rampant homophobia in America, and if so, do you see it as a problem?
Taxes
1) Due to the estate tax, when someone dies, all of their money over the $5 million mark will be taxed at 35% once it is inherited by their heirs, and I understand you are opposed to this tax. At a time of record deficits, why do you believe a person should not pay any taxes on the money they inherit above $5 million, while a working mother making $35,000 each year who doesn’t come from a wealthy family should pay taxes on her hard earned income?
2) You seem to believe that taxing wealthy Americans to pay for programs for the poor is a destructive redistribution of wealth. At a time when the financial divide between rich and poor in America is setting records - with the wealthiest 1% owning more than the bottom 50% of Americans combined - do you believe that taxes should be raised on the poor so they can finance their own social programs?
3) Much has been made of the statistic that 50% of Americans are too poor to pay federal income taxes. Does this statistic outrage you? If so, which part is outrageous - that 50% of Americans are that poor, or that the wealthier 50% of the country has to pay federal income taxes? Would you suggest raising taxes on the poorest Americans to rectify this divide?
4) Do you support the flat tax? If so, wouldn’t that be the largest tax increase in history on the middle class and an enormous tax break for the wealthiest? If not, what do you say to Republicans who would accuse you of punishing the rich by making them pay a higher tax rate than the poor pay on some of their income?
5) Most economists agree that unemployment insurance is an exponentially greater economic stimulator than tax cuts for wealthy people. In the name of stimulating the economy, why do you support debt financed tax cuts for the rich but insist on paying for unemployment benefits with cuts in federal programs?
6) Since President Bush lowered taxes and then initiated two wars, do you believe we should ever raise taxes again in order to pay for those wars or should we always just cut spending on domestic priorities when we are forced into foreign conflicts?
Gun Rights
Do you believe Americans should be allowed to own pistols, machine guns, bazookas, and grenades since the Second Amendment guarantees the people “the right to keep and bear arms”? It does not specify which arms, so what information informed your activist interpretation of where the Constitution draws the line? At the time our nation adopted that amendment, with the blessing of our Founding Fathers, “arms” were quite different than they are now.
Climate Change
We all learned in elementary school about CFC’s from manmade products damaging the ozone layer. Did you believe the experts at the National Academy of Sciences when they came forward with this research? And if so, why do you not believe the National Academy of Sciences and NASA when they say that strong evidence from countless sources of research suggests that manmade greenhouse gas emissions are significantly contributing to climate change
Racism and Civil Rights
It wasn’t but half a generation ago in the 1970s that “Whites Only” signs really came down in the South. Do you believe racism is still a significant problem in America, and do you believe there is any lasting fallout from the very recent days of impoverished segregation that lingered for over a century after slavery was abolished? If so, is there anything the government can do about it, seeing as the hangover poverty among this community is largely considered to be a product of systemic policies and mainstream racism that disadvantaged black Americans for generations?
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