7 Questions for Interviewers of McCain and Obama
1. What does the Iraq War have to do with the financial meltdown?
2. Can we afford all our wars, all our military bases, and still help our own people as well? Why is PEACE a dirty word in the debates?
3. What are the risks involved with China buying our debt?
4. What are the risks involved with Chinese children being well-educated for free and our children not?
5. Why are Americans so queasy about taxes? There are certain things only government can do. Disaster Relief, Response to Climate change, Space Exploration, Health Care, Education, Bank Bailouts, etc.)
Why do we pretend this is not true? Why do we pretend it doesn't cost anything?
6. What is the problem with a mixed economy: part capitalist, part socialist? We have had such an economy since the Great Depression and World War II. It has served us well. It has made us prosperous. Why the fear of it? Why does the word "socialist" make us quake?
We seem not to mind socialist for the rich -- or for Congress.
7. When will we get real about education? When will we realize we can't afford the dumbest generation in a global world?
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Palin's answer to each question (which she'll never be asked) "Huh?"
she may answer but the answer may not be the answer... ask Katie Couric
These are exactly what's been on my mind and I'm sure on the minds of millions. Thank you, Erica, for writing them down. Now can we send these questions to Bob Schieffer? Do you know him? What's his phone number? Does he Twitter????
I agree excellent questions, but here's the problem - they make sense and the require a journalist who is not afraid to ask them, or, who's not pressured by his "boss's" to stay clear of them...and here's one I would add too - "please reiterate, or, explain your standing on religion & state & abuse of power?"
Long time fan, Erica.
I just heard some economist yesterday decrying the mix of socialist and capitalist economic policies, saying they just don' work. Hello? And I have heard the term 'Marxism' thrown around as much in several years as I have the last few days.
America can never take itself seriously on education if we keep getting these leaders like Bush and Palin presented to the public as viable examples. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when Palin started gushing about all her accomplishments when she was asked about her Achilles heel. I want people in office who read literature as well as policy briefs, guess I'm just an elitist.
Well of course, education needs to be centrally funded and controlled.
Karen, that's the problem we need an education czar to decide everything for us. Socialism is the way. To hell with this freedom thing.
Scott, sweetie, we've got your point by now. (How many posts have you made here?)
However, if you're more afraid of the Dem's vision of a national education policy than the Republican's, look to NCLB, my dear.
The most horrendous, stringent, national layer of educational standards ever set in this country. Pretty much universally deplored by everyone in public education as a complete disaster.
Who dreamt it up? Oh, yeah, right, that freedom fighter, George Bush.
So you can drop the education layer from your anti-socialist argument.
I can't help but think back to the Carter years, when his own party demonized him for talking about issues of peace and energy independence. The Democrats, by and large, hated him for his pretentious scorn of their politics. Their politicking set us up for Reagan and has cost us dearly.
In steps Obama, another man with a vision. Should I fear a case of deja vous?
Yeah, it is a terrible place to live. Poverty, rampant homelessness, state control, no religious freedom. No opportunities to advance. Terrible standard of living.
Your right, LITU, nobody in their right mind could disagree with you, socialism is the way.
How about, "What is the rational for giving 25¢ of every dollar spent on health care to large insurance companies which are not, in fact, health care providers?"
Excellent questions? I would add one: How does a nation proclaiming by 85% to be Christian manage to act so opposite to the example of Christ's life?
That's a DAMN good question!!!!
My answer: because probably 80% of that 85% never really thought much about what leading a "Christian" life entails. It's something they were brought up with by their parents (who probably weren't very good Christians either).
These are very good questions. Several questions point the finger at an ideology that belongs in the dust bin of history. I find the reluctance to accept the rebirth of a "mixed economy" (question 6) astonishing in light of the fact that the U.S. economy, at its very inception under Hamilton, was nationalis
I think the economist Daniel Raymond (1766-1846) sums up the true spirit of the American economy who realized that national wealth is not the gross sum of all individual wealth but instead is concerned with the productive power of the nation as a whole (i.e., we produce our own goods and services).
Raymond, in 1820 observed that the federal government should regulate the money supply in order to moderate the extremes inherent in the recurrent cycles of boom and bust. Also, Raymond said such extremes of inflation and depression resulted from the lack of federal control of irresponsible banks! Amazingly, he also believed that financial institutions, in his words, "money corporations" "were detrimental to the national wealth"!
"Socialism" has morphed into a dirty word in Republicanspeak because the gullible, ignorant voters under their sway don't know what kind of an "ism" it is. They equate it with "communism", surely the worst word in the English lexicon, according to the wacko wing of the Republican party.
Republican voters (not rich Republicans), but poor, white, uneducated voters, are fragile mentally. They bow to authority, whether it be church, state, right wing radio/Fox News. They wait to do what they are told to do, are easily swayed by propaganda and negative TV ads, don't read legitimate news sources or books that enlighten. The crowds whipped into a Nazi-like frenzy by the McCain/Palin team are a case in point. Sadly, these poorest of the downtrodden, buffeted by 4 decades of Republican policy, vote against their interests, time and again. A quasi-socialist approach to government would lift them up. Let's hope that this becomes a reality in a few weeks.
Unfortunately it is not necessarily the *poor* who have a *fragile mentality*. It is the rich who have a stake in using populations and institutions to further their greed, usury and other practices. They are, indeed, uneducated, as they do not know that their practices undermine the country as well as their own prosperity. You can not make good profit if you kill the market. If you make the population so poor that they can not pay taxes, you erode the taxbase, and you end up payaing yourself, maybe not taxes, but through a financial breakdown.
Great questions, Erica. I only wish that Bob was an avid reader of Huffington Post and might take a que from your article. Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case and therefore I'm prepared for more pablum in this final "debate".
As always Erica, you hit the ball outta the park! If only Obama would have the nerve to ask these questions. I always hope that someone would just tell us the truth about what is going on in Washington behind our backs.
Where is the outrage over this last bill that was originally 3 pages, 7 hundred billion and turned out to be over 400 hundred pages long with millions of dollars of pork attached???
Where is the outrage!!!!!!!
Nice set of serious questions. Unfortunately, the moderator likely will ask none of them since he operates under the same flawed assumtions about what is possible as do many other Americans. However, fortunately, the one good thing to come out of this huge economic bailout for the finance sector is that it is shining a light on the fact that the much touted free market is just a myth. As more Americans consider this, it is going to be a lot harder for conservatives to make the argument that universal health care and access to education are a slippery slope to the end of capitalism. Afterall what's good enough for the bankers, is good enough for the rest of us!
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