The Season of Questions

The onslaught of Republican presidential debates has been very entertaining but only minimally instructive--in both cases because of deficits: deficits in the candidates' presentations.

They seem smart, so I assume these deficits are intentional. I think they know better. I hope they know better. Here are five questions that I would like to ask them.

1. Mr. Gingrich, you criticize President Obama's energy policy and pound the pulpit for "energy independence." Since oil is a limited resource which everyone knows will eventually be depleted, whose oil should we buy and use up first--ours or theirs?

2. Mr. Santorum, you characterize your overriding view of our society as based on strong family values. Why do you criticize those who extend the metaphor of family to their community and, beyond that, to the nation as a whole?

Why is it wrong to help out our fellow citizens who are in need? If helping the needy encourages them to become more dependent, isn't that also true of family members? And if we ultimately agree that we can't let family members die from neglect, why shouldn't we have the same attitude towards members of our national family?

3. Mr. Romney, you have no sympathy for undocumented foreign workers and want them gone. Why? They work hard, are not criminals (in part, for fear of being caught and deported), they pay taxes but don't receive such benefits as social security, and there is plenty of room for these immigrants in the vast and relatively empty middle part of our country.

Originally, when our country needed workers and growth, we had no immigration quotas. Quotas came only as a result of supra-nationalism and prejudice following WWI and these quotas favored immigration from western European nations. Why do you support this policy over a more humanitarian policy towards those who came, illegally, through a border intentionally made permeable because, for instance, agri-buisiness wanted cheap farm labor?

4. Dr. Paul, you argue that a "free market" benefits everyone. Would you eliminate fire safety codes, child labor laws, food labeling, collective bargaining, the licensing of professionals...?

The word "economy" comes from the Greek word meaning "management of household," yet many equate the word with profit. Does a "capitalist economy" require that profits be more important than quality of life? Do businesses and corporations have any responsibility to their community? Do you trust human compassion to trump human greed when lives are at stake?

5. To all four candidates, you claim to be best qualified to be president because you know best how to create jobs--even as you argue that government (and I assume that includes the President) cannot and should not create jobs. Why have you not once mentioned social justice as a part of your presidential agenda? What areas of our American society would require your devoted attention in a Republican administration?