50 Questions

As inspired by MsJS’s  “50 Questions Every Presidential Candidate Should Be Able to Answer Without Blinking”  MsJS will be in charge of deciding what the final order is, but start plugging yours in:

  1.  Why are you running and what distinguishes your candidacy? (MsJS)
  2. What did you major in in college and why?  How many times did you change your major before you graduated? (Michigoose)
  3. Describe the foreign policy you would most want to emulate of the post WW2 POTUS of your choice, and how you would refine means and ends for today. (Mark)
  4. What is the most recent mistake you’ve made? (bsimon)
  5. What is your position on indefinite detention of U.S. citizens, a la NDAA?  If you support it, on what legal basis?  If you do not support it, do you plan to do anything to change it?  (okie)(MsJS, I assume you will reorder these)(MsMS–I may have put this even ahead of your #1–Michigoose)
  6. How do you respond to a heckler in a crowd who’s never going to vote for you?  (MsJS)
  7. Position on preemptive war? (okie)
  8. Why do you think the financial crisis occurred? What do you think your adversaries get right about the causes and what do you think they get wrong? (Brent)
  9. What advice would you offer students of today and tomorrow who are leaving college with such high debt levels? (lms)
  10. If you do not agree with the policy of current immigration law, describe your differences, and do not limit yourself to the of handling undocs.  Who should be welcomed to this country?  Why? (Mark)
  11. Shouldn’t it be an absolute requirement that the Congress declare war before we send human beings into danger? (mcurtis)
  12. In your opinion has the “War on Drugs” been successful, and if not what policy would you advocate to change it? (lms)
  13. Assuming you are opposed to the individual mandate, how would you handle the “free rider” issue, in which the uninsured take advantage of free emergency-room care at taxpayer expense? (NoVA)
  14. The federal economic role in public primary and secondary school education was limited, in 1962, to funding the schools impacted by the presence of federal reservations and military bases, and to a national school lunch program that was a handy adjunct to Agriculture policy regarding surplus goods. Additionally, the Public Health Service had access to schools for vaccination of children against communicable diseases. What, if any, additional economic role do you think the federal government should be continuously undertaking wrt to public elementary and secondary schools, beyond that of fifty years ago? Why? (Mark)
  15. Name a strength and a weakness of each of your challengers and why you’d make the better president.  (MsJS)
  16. There are 15 Cabinet offices and 8 additional “cabinet level” officers. Fifty years ago, during the height of the Cold War, there were 9 Cabinet offices and 4 additional cabinet level officers. Do you see room for consolidation of cabinet offices in order to eliminate overlap in bureaucracy and budget and in order to make Cabinet meetings more productive? What would you consolidate? Why?Specifically, would you dismantle Homeland Security and return the functions to the Departments from whence they were plucked? (Mark)(Good one–I’d meant to put this one in, also.–Michigoose)
  17. If the US became energy-independent, how would that affect your views regarding the proper level of defense spending and our role in the Middle East? (Brent)
  18. Where is the line between respecting candidates’ privacy and the voters’ need to know the strength of each candidate’s character? (bsimon)
  19. Life expectancy in this country is X*. What do you want it to be, how much should we spend to get it there and where would you allocate the resources? (NoVAHockey)
  20. It has become fashionable of late for the media and/or your challengers to urge you to release your tax returns.  Will you and why, or won’t you and why not? (MsJS)(*See comment, MsJS)
  21. Why or why not is it fair to characterize the GWOT as a battle between the forces of good and evil? (bsimon)
  22. O’Connor v. Donaldson in 1975 followed by Addington v. Texas, in 1979, expanded the civil rights of the emotionally disturbed and mentally handicapped. The unintended consequence of those cases was that the homeless population of incompetents burgeoned. Do you think this should remain a local concern, without any significant federal involvement? If not, what would you suggest the federal government should do? (Mark)
  23. Would you obligate our defense forces to support Israel if it struck first against Iran and a war between the two nations resulted?If yes, what legal or other basis would you claim to support your decision, given that we have no mutual defense treaty with Israel, and given that for Israel it would have been a preemptive strike? (Mark)
  24. Defend the Constitutional use of drone aircraft in the killing of Americans (Michigoose)
  25. What, if anything, should the government do about executive pay? (Brent)
  26. Which is the worse outcome: allowing an unregistered voter to vote; or denying a registered voter their vote? (bsimon)
  27. Describe how our Constitutional government is like a business.  (mcurtis)
  28. Do you think scientists, in peer-reviewed papers, are more interested in the apparent scientific truth or advancing a political agenda?  (Michigoose)
  29. XXX
  30. XXX
  31. XXX
  32. XXX
  33. Did you ever bully a person, or were you ever bullied?  Who did it and what did you do about it? (Michigoose)
  34. XXX
  35. XXX
  36. XXX
  37. XXX
  38. XXX
  39. XXX
  40. Besides Roe v. Wade, name 3 modern Supreme Court cases (post-1950) that you think were wrongly decided and why you think those decisions are Constitutionally suspect. (Mike)
  41. XXX
  42. What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?  (FB, channeling Douglas Adams)
  43. XXX
  45. XXX
  46. XXX
  47. XXX
  48. XXX
  49. XXX
  50. XXX
  51. XXX
  52. When is the last time you got a traffic ticket and what was it for (Michigoose)(guess who saw WAY too many bad drivers on my commute [all of about 3 miles] home tonight)?

30 Responses

  1. novahockey, on January 20, 2012 at 2:21 pm said:

    Re: Q 37 — I’d change the time frame. but just so I could ask about Wickard v. Filburn.

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  2. Michigoose, on January 20, 2012 at 2:34 pm said:

    I’m plugging your questions into blank spots and then deleting the comments (unless, like nova’s, I don’t know the context and so need you to expand it) so that we’ll know when we get to 50. If we go over 50, then MsJS has her work really cut out for her as she gets to decide what stays and what goes, in addition to the final order!

    🙂

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  3. Michigoose, on January 20, 2012 at 11:25 pm said:

    *MsJS:

    I just found out today that, at least according to a moderator at the last Republican debate, Mitt’s dad was one of the first to do this, and he released 12 years’ worth of returns. How the worm turns!

    Or, to turn a quote on its head, how sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have an overly honest parent!

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  4. msjs0315, on January 21, 2012 at 8:27 am said:

    Yeah, I remember Mitt’s father being transparent with his tax returns, Michi. All the more reason for the Team Romney response on tax returns to have been pre-scripted.

    I don’t view the release vs. non-release of tax returns to be a measure of honesty. But Team Romney has responded to the issue so poorly that it’s become one, at least for now.

    I’m assuming Romney’s hoping he’s got the nomination locked up by mid-April so he can slide on releasing his returns. But that’s just me.

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  5. novahockey, on January 23, 2012 at 2:43 pm said:

    Draft — still working out the phrasing …..

    Do you support overturning Citizens United or do you support free speech? (NoVA)

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  6. markinaustin, on January 23, 2012 at 3:15 pm said:

    The federal economic role in public primary and secondary school education was limited, in 1962, to funding the schools impacted by the presence of federal reservations and military bases, and to a national school lunch program that was a handy adjunct to Agriculture policy regarding surplus goods. Additionally, the Public Health Service had access to schools for vaccination of children against communicable diseases. What, if any, additional economic role do you think the federal government should be continuously undertaking wrt to public elementary and secondary schools, beyond that of fifty years ago? Why?

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  7. markinaustin, on January 23, 2012 at 3:33 pm said:

    There are 15 Cabinet offices and 8 additional “cabinet level” officers. Fifty years ago, during the height of the Cold War, there were 9 Cabinet offices and 4 additional cabinet level officers. Do you see room for consolidation of cabinet offices in order to eliminate overlap in bureaucracy and budget and in order to make Cabinet meetings more productive? What would you consolidate? Why?

    Specifically, would you dismantle Homeland Security and return the functions to the Departments from whence they were plucked?

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    Reply
  8. Brent Nyitray, on January 23, 2012 at 7:19 pm said:

    If the US became energy-independent, how would that affect your views regarding the proper level of defense spending and our role in the Middle East?

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  9. bsimon1970, on January 23, 2012 at 9:07 pm said:

    Where is the line between respecting candidates’ privacy and the voters’ need to know the strength of each candidate’s character?

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  10. Fairlington Blade, on January 24, 2012 at 3:40 pm said:

    42. What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?

    BB

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  11. bsimon, on February 3, 2012 at 12:00 pm said:

    Why or why not is it fair to characterize the GWOT as a battle between the forces of good and evil?

    –#21–Michigoose

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  12. markinaustin, on February 3, 2012 at 6:35 pm said:

    O’Connor v. Donaldson in 1975 followed by Addington v. Texas, in 1979, expanded the civil rights of the emotionally disturbed and mentally handicapped. The unintended consequence of those cases was that the homeless population of incompetents burgeoned. Do you think this should remain a local concern, without any significant federal involvement? If not, what would you suggest the federal government should do?

    –#22–Michigoose

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  13. markinaustin, on February 8, 2012 at 5:26 pm said:

    Would you obligate our defense forces to support Israel if it struck first against Iran and a war between the two nations resulted?

    If yes, what legal or other basis would you claim to support your decision, given that we have no mutual defense treaty with Israel, and given that for Israel it would have been a preemptive strike?

    –#23–Michigoose

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  14. Brent Nyitray, on February 10, 2012 at 7:34 am said:

    What, if anything, should the government do about executive pay?

    –#25–Michigoose

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  15. bsimon, on March 5, 2012 at 2:38 pm said:

    Which is the worse outcome: allowing an unregistered voter to vote; or denying a registered voter their vote?

    — #26–Michigoose

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  16. robakers, on October 21, 2012 at 7:44 pm said:

    I answered your questions on my blog. I hope you all enjoy the answers. If these are the toughest questions that can be asked then I am officially running for President.

    Thanks for the questions and I love your blog. Keep freedom free!

    http://robakers.wordpress.com

    rob

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