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Edited on Mon Nov-19-07 10:39 PM by NanceGreggs
Diamonds or Pearls?
I think it’s a more than fair question, asking the presidential candidates to explain their preference for one thing over another.
In keeping with that concept, I think the following should be asked at the next GOP presidential debate:
What is the greater evil in today’s society? Wasting tax dollars on subsidizing welfare, food banks, homeless shelters, and other social programs to assist down-and-out Americans, or wasting tax dollars to subsidize oil conglomerates that are already raking in billions in profits?
In a time of war, how are our tax dollars best spent? Should we negotiate contracts with experienced and proven service contractors to supply our forces at the best price, or should we hand no-bid contracts to corporations like Halliburton, and just look the other way when the money allegedly spent on our troops can't be accounted for?
Which plan better serves national security interests? Continuing the current course in the Middle East that has been proven to encourage the recruitment of more terrorists, or just supressing and/or ignoring NIE reports that state that as a fact?
What is the best plan for extricating ourselves from the quagmire in Iraq? Should we withdraw our troops now and declare victory, or wait until we lose another ten or twenty thousand troops and then declare victory?
How do we deal with the cost of caring for returning vets? Should we deny their claims for rehab /disability pensions/psychiatric counseling upon their return to the States, or continue to send them into combat, exhausted and under-equipped, and bury them when they’re dead, which is a one-time expenditure and much cheaper than long-term care?
What is the most effective way of dealing with the so-called War on Terror? Should we continue distancing ourselves from our traditional allies whose cooperation is necessary, or should we keep eating Freedom Fries until everyone comes around?
How can we regain our credibility as a world power? Should we keep rattling our sabers at Iran and hope no one notices that our military is broken, or start another world war and hope we’ve got enough Americans left to repopulate the military?
How can we keep our nation safe from terrorists? Should we prevent people from carrying shampoo and baby formula on our aircraft and declare ourselves safe, or should we keep our fingers crossed and hope that the uninspected cargo on that same aircraft doesn’t blow up in mid-air?
What is the best course for keeping American jobs viable? Should we outsource as many jobs as possible to cheap labor markets in order to increase corporate profits, or should we continue to under-pay workers while increasing salaries and bonuses for CEOs on the premise that rich CEOs will spend their money at the local Wal-Mart?
How do we grow the economy? Do we stay the course with respect to eliminating middle class jobs entirely, or do we stay the course by ensuring the only products the middle class can afford on their salaries are produced in cheaper overseas sweatshops rather than products made by American workers?
How can we protect our Constitution and still protect our nation from would-be terrorists? Should we publicly dispense with the Constitution altogether, or should we declare those who uphold the Constitution as subversives and shuttle them off to Gitmo so that no one finds out that the Constitution has been dispensed with?
How do we deal with the current crisis in education? Do we continue to act like we’re actually interested in improving education, or do we just tell our kids that there’s no point in being educated when they’re just going to wind up in the military fighting the next war, and the next, and the next?
How do we placate the Christian Fundie voter and continue to torture? Do we throw ‘em a bone by promising to make homosexual marriage illegal, or do we commission religious scholars to rewrite the New Testament and pass it off as the newly-found lost teachings of Jesus in which he actually extolled the virtues of using torture?
How do we quell the fears of Americans who see the national debt rising to unprecedented heights? Do we tell them that the countries we are borrowing from don't expect to be repaid, or do we convince them that only a minimum payment is required which will amount to no more than $25.00 per month?
In the long run, what is more important? “Keeping American democracy safe” by relinquishing it ourselves, or “destroying American democracy” in order to keep terrorists from trying to force us to relinquish it?
Diamonds or pearls, Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Romney, Mr. Tancredo, et al – and please speak up; we don’t want to miss your thoughtful answers.
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