What are some good questions to ask MItt Romney and Paul Ryan in the upcoming presidential and vice-presidential debates? You get to ask one question, with one follow up.
One I would like answered is as follows:
"The debt and the deficit appear to be major themes in your campaign. Do you think reducing the federal deficit and the national debt will require more sacrifice from all Americans?"
followed by,
"If so, what sacrifices will be made by those earning more than $250,000 per year?
Let’s try to keep the questions semi-serious and realistic, please. If someone would like to start a similar thread for Obama/Biden, that would be the place for questions for the Democratic ticket.
What would you, personally, want done with a 13-year-old rape victim carrying the brain-damaged babies of her syphillitic rapist?
Followup–
No, seriously, answer the fucking question I asked you, instead of giving me a lot of diversionary, digressive doubletalk and generalities. This case, do you want this child to carry the babies to term? Yes or no?
"I do not think that Americans have to sacrifice more. They all, rich and poor alike, sacrifice too much in the face of a bloated federal government and failed leadership from this administration. The only Americans that should have to sacrifice are the bureaucrats in Washington who take every citizen’s hard earned wages and waste them on inefficient, bloated programs that were designed over 80 years ago.
We have a new vision. A vision of hope and choice. A vision where Americans, instead of sacrificing, can use the money they earned by the sweat of their brows, and use it to provide for their families how they see fit. Not how a government bureaucrat would see fit, but how YOU see fit…"
Republican tax schemes and the tamping down of wages have caused trillions of dollars to be hoarded by the top 1%, who, like yourself, have socked it all away in offshore tax havens, denying America the tax income she’s entitled to, which has had myriad devastating consequences across a wide swath of this country; everything from forcing more people onto taxpayer programs because they can’t afford to live on 1965’s wages, to causing the collapse of our country’s critical infrastructure because there’s no money to fix it without going further into debt. As president, what would you tell the Americans who’ve had their wealth stolen from them by the 1% for the past 45 years, and how would you explain the broken promise that giving more tax breaks to the wealthy would result in more jobs, when the only thing it’s done is make their Swiss and Cayman bank accounts bulge from the excess? With over $2 trillion dollars sitting in corporate bank accounts right this minute, the American people would like to know, “Where are the jobs you told us that money would magically create, Mr. Romney?” And please, no more lies.
How would you deal with Iranian forces entering Syria? Obviously you can’t provide specific details about a hypothetical, but what changes might you make to the distribution of military resources in the region? Would you seek the advice or aid of the United Nations, NATO, the Arab League or any other international organizations? Will you cooperate with the indepedent actions of any other countries if this happens?
And to follow up, what do you see as the eventual outcome in Syria?
**Does the government have a basic responsibility to the well-being of the country, or not?
If so, how does that square with your party’s belief in “limited government” and opposition to environmental laws, even in the face of economy-ending drought in the nation’s breadbasket year after year?
If not, then what is the basic function of government in your eyes, and why should we even care?**
Given that the vast majority of climate scientists find that not only is global warming happening, but is being pushed by humans, why do you not believe in it?
Follow up: Are there other places you decide not to believe in current science? For instance do you think evolution is real?
Mr. Ryan, your original Medicare proposal meant that the average senior would be faced with over six thousand dollars of additional medical costs. For the many that can’t pay that, would you suggest the file for bankruptcy?
"Governor Romney, you stated that you would have signed into law your running mate’s 2011 budget proposal had you been president and it came to your desk. Under the Ryan plan, which almost completely eeliminates taxes on investment income, you would have paid an effective tax of less than 1% on your gross income for the years you have published tax returns for - while middle-class Americans whose income is derived primarily from wages would pay from 10 to 25 percent, and many would pay considerably more than they do now due to the elimination of the Earned Income Credit and other common deductions.
Do you believe it’s appropriate for the president to lobby for and sign legislation to cut his own taxes at the expense of raising taxes on the middle class?"
I’d ask him for specifics about what he plans to do to improve the economy and unemployment. Not facile empty words, but some specifics. I’d ask Obama the same question. I’d also ask how, in the current contentious political environment, Romney plans to get anything he plans implemented…and, again, I’d ask Obama the exact same question. It would be interesting to see how the questions were answered in both cases, to compare and contrast how real the answers they give, and how much horseshit and empty words were given instead.
Well that’s why Presidential debates are pointless exercises, the moderators never actually let someone be pushed into actually answering a question. The categories of question the moderator is allowed to ask have to be pre-approved by both sides and both sides and all kinds of other things that make the whole exercise just a pointless exercise in which each candidate gets to repeat a bunch of platitudes that we’ve all heard on the campaign trail already.
Something about why, despite giving tax returns to the McCain camp and requesting tax returns from his own potential running mates, that information is still too private for the people electing him to run their country.
Wait, are you saying that we should abandon our obligations on social security and medicare? If so then why dance around it? Just fucking say you want to eliminate or privatize medicare and social security because THAT is a winning formula for winning elections.
You are simply on the wrong side of history on this one. Just like we are never going to go back to vassalage and feudalism prior to a zombiepocalypse, we are not going to turn back the clock on the notion of social insurance.
How would you handle the fact that American workers simply cannot compete with Chinese workers on a value for dollar basis?
How would you handle the fact that baumol’s disease (google it) implies ever rising health care and higher education costs.
Despite the fact that wage levels have historically correlated well with productivity, in recent decades this correlation has broken and the vast majority of additional returns on productivity have gone to the providers of capital and almost nothing has gone to the providers of labor. Do you think this is a problem, and if so, how would you deal with it?
“Governor Romney, 3 years ago you advocated for a constitutional amendment that would add a new requirement for candidates running for president. You said they should have to work at least 3 years in business before running for president. Paul Ryan does not meet this requirement. Why do you think he is competent to be president in case of your death or incapacity, since you apparently think he is not qualified to be elected to it?”
Agreed. Further the candidates are extensively prepped beforehand so as not to make a major gaffe. No way does Romney or Ryan answer the 13 year old having an abortion question. They would just make circular statements about how sad rape is and how life is precious, but the real issue in this race is the economy. If pressed to “answer the question I asked” then they would simply reply that they DID answer the question, sorry Mr. Moderator if you didn’t like my answer, but the American people want to talk about issues that matter, blah, blah, blah.
And since they are presidential candidates, they can get away with it unless you stand up and call them an asshole and make yourself look foolish. It’s like debating a professor in class. He is in a position of authority. If you engage in a witty repartee with him, you will lose because there is a line you can’t cross. But he can.