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Help Choose Final Bush/Kerry/Nader Youth Voter Questions 89

Posted by Roblimo from the how-hard-will-they-duck-the-hard-ones? dept.
Quite a few of the submitted questions were generated by Slashdot readers, and your moderations and comments helped select the 25 semi-finalists. There's only one step remaining in the process: Voting on the the final 12 questions that will be submitted to the candidates, which must be done on the New Voters Project Presidential Youth Debate site by noon Eastern Time on October 5. Note that Slashdot readers are the only members of the moderation panel providing "...nominations from an entire community." We'll post the answers from Bush, Kerry, and Nader (who was added after the process began) on October 12.
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Help Choose Final Bush/Kerry/Nader Youth Voter Questions More

Help Choose Final Bush/Kerry/Nader Youth Voter Questions

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  • Kind of ironic.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by isotope23 ( 210590 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @12:06PM (#10429896) Homepage Journal
    that the choices are only bush/kerry/nader

    when even the /. poll shows badnarik at 5% and nader at only 1%

    • I had the same thought, I wish the Libertarian, Green, and Constitution Party were in this..

    • Re:Kind of ironic.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 04, 2004 @02:34PM (#10431588)
      There isn't anything stopping other parties from answering the questions as well. Hopefully at least Slashdot will link to them even if they don't appear on the new voters project website.
      • Here, here, mod the parent up
      • Heck, I dont expect the main canidates to actually answer the questions... Most likely, a subordinate will type something along the lines of...

        Q: What will you do in Iraq?

        Bush: We will be strong and free in supporting freedom from the terrorists for the good of all freedom and starting a free democracy in the middle east. Oh yeah, and I support the soldiers over there fighting the terrorists. Must fight terror. Terror Bad. Terror.

        Kerry: Slightly more intelligently worded version of above.

        Nader, Oh,

    • Nader Blasts G.O.P.
      Someone brought this Borowitz report to my attention
      today. I think that it's true that the Republicans are
      falling down on the job with regard to promoting
      Nader.

      To Republicans, I say:

      • How about
        running a few ads for Nader?
      • What are you
        doing to get him on the ballot today?
      • What are
        you doing to get him elected today?

      The Borowitz Report.com [borowitzreport.com]

      .

  • Affordable healthcare (Score:5, Insightful)

    by wayward_son ( 146338 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @12:14PM (#10430035)
    It is becoming increasingly difficult for working Americans to afford quality health care. Costs for health care and health care coverage are spiraling beyond the reach of many in this country. This is having an adverse effect on both the nations health as well as the nation's economy. (For example, the leading cause of personal bankruptcy is people not able to pay their doctor bills.)

    If elected President, what would you do to make quality healthcare affordable to all Americans?

    • (For example, the leading cause of personal bankruptcy is people not able to pay their doctor bills.)

      Just out of curiosity, do you have a citation for this? I don't, but I'd guess that credit cards and predatory pay day lending have more to do with most bankruptcies than doctors' bills.

      Having said that, I'm sure that medical bills do account for many bankruptcies, and (if in that situation) I don't blame the person for opting for bankruptcy.

      • Loans aren't goods and services that people buy, they are simply the means to pay for the goods and services people really want, like healthcare when they need it.
        • That's true, but the excessive use of credit cards gets a lot of people into financial trouble. I would guess that many more people declare bankruptcy because of the ease of obtaining huge credit card lines than because of the costs of health care.
    • It is becoming increasingly difficult for working Americans to afford quality health care. Costs for health care and health care coverage are spiraling beyond the reach of many in this country.

      Spending on health care isn't the same as the cost of health care.

      The difference is an important one.

      • That's true- the cost would be labor + supplies, the spending is labor + supplies + your insurance CEO's new boat.
        • That's true- the cost would be labor + supplies, the spending is labor + supplies + your insurance CEO's new boat.

          The insurance CEO's new boat would be part of the cost, if that's what it took to get someone to run an insurance company. Most people don't work for free (maybe you do).

          No. The difference between costs and spending is the difference between how much money it takes to purchase a particular treatment and how much money you actually spend on all treatments.

          The costs in two different places mig
          • The insurance CEO's new boat would be part of the cost, if that's what it took to get someone to run an insurance company. Most people don't work for free (maybe you do).

            I would if I could figure out some way to get food, clothing, and shelter for free. I can't- so I feel FORCED into working for money. That beside the point- CEOs in our society are WAY overpaid for what little they actually do (all C-level executives are) and are definately not within the Platonic Free Market ideal (of no job being paid
            • >of no job being paid any more than 10x
              >any other job- for no man is
              >more than 10x as productive as any other).

              that is one of the biggest loads of crap that i have heard in awhile. where did you get that from, karl marx?

              compare some ghetto-rat who does nothing but sit on his ass feeding off of society versus someone creative who is a benefactor for society: are you suggesting that this comparison cannot be quantified? that somehow all people are intrinsically of the same value and therefore des
              • that is one of the biggest loads of crap that i have heard in awhile. where did you get that from, karl marx?

                Nah, Marx is too modern for this idea- it came from Plato's The Republic. But I can't expect a neocon mammon worshiper to actually READ the classics.
                compare some ghetto-rat who does nothing but sit on his ass feeding off of society versus someone creative who is a benefactor for society: are you suggesting that this comparison cannot be quantified?

                No- I'm saying that there's no need for more t
                • >current minimum wage) $235,000/year to live on, >and that it should be as tax free up to that >point as the guy who makes $23,500.

                  why stop at 10x the amount? what makes 10 so special?

                  you definition is just as arbitrary as mine.

                  i hate to tell you this, but why the heck would anyone take the risk and deal with the punishment required to start a company if all they could make was $235,000?!?!?

                  i guess it all comes down to whether you think that we are better off as a "work"-driven or "capital"-dri
                  • why stop at 10x the amount? what makes 10 so special?

                    It's the point that Plato in his thought experiments found didn't create undue inflationary pressure on basic needs items. It would clearly have to be tinkered with in today's society- we might find it should be 100, or even 1000, times minimum wage.

                    you definition is just as arbitrary as mine.

                    Yes and no- there is some very old mathematics backing it up- read Plato's Republic.

                    hate to tell you this, but why the heck would anyone take the risk and
                  • i guess it all comes down to whether you think that we are better off as a "work"-driven or "capital"-driven society.

                    Second reply- there's a third option rapidly approaching, and that's the robot-driven society. It will be marked by 75-90% unemployment, because human labor will be not economically viable any longer AT ALL. I've got some other long term ideas for how to deal with this beyond minimum/maximum wages- and all of them include using the money gained from the maximum wage cap to produce food, c
    • oddly enough i pay more in medicare taxes than i do for health insurance....
    • If elected President, what would you do to make quality healthcare affordable to all Americans?

      I think this question is a little vague. The candidate could say something to the effect of, "I would protect medicare and ensure that all children under 18 have access to healthcare," and would answer the question without any specifics. We need to phrase it so that it's harder for them to worm their way around the question instead of showing that they have an actual plan.
    • It is becoming increasingly difficult for working Americans to afford quality health care. Costs for health care and health care coverage are spiraling beyond the reach of many in this country.

      Well, to some extent, this is fallout from the increasingly litigious society we live in. As more people sue their doctors, the doctors (and hospitals, and pharmacutical manufacturers) insurance costs increase. This cost is eventually passed back to the patient. Now, to raise the cash, the patient needs a lawsuit..

  • The Second Coming (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Cowdog ( 154277 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @12:17PM (#10430096) Journal
    James Watt, President Reagan's Secretary of the Interior, was quoted in the Washington Post in 1981 as saying "We don't have to protect the environment, the Second Coming is at hand."

    Please tell the young voters what your beliefs regarding the Second Coming are, and how those beliefs influence your choices on long-term policy matters such as energy, the environment, and foreign relations.
    • Haha, oops. Pays to read the full story before posting!
    • Are you sure? I thought that quote was by James Watt, the inventor of the steam engine.

    • Re:The Second Coming (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Brandybuck ( 704397 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @02:57PM (#10431879) Homepage Journal
      There's a story that a freak meteorological event three centuries ago covered parts of New England with uncanny darkness. The story goes that most people stayed home and prayed because they thought it was the end of the world. But one man hitched up with oxen and went to plow his fields.

      When asked later why he went about his work, he replied, "Well if figured it was one of two things. If the Good Lord wasn't coming back then I didn't want to waste my time. But if the Good Lord was coming back, then I wanted Him to find me industrious instead of idle."

      Believing in the second coming shouldn't have any effect on one's behavior towards the environment. A really good answer to your question would be, "If the Good Lord is coming back tomorrow, I want Him to find me to be a faithful steward of the Earth..."
      • Well put, Most christians feel this way (in fact its pretty doctronally unsound not to). There is a reson than no man knows the day or the our and that is because G*d intends us to live our lives.

        Two things drive me nuts, and that is George Bush Christians, and the Liberals who confuse them for actual Christians.

  • 10th Amendment (Score:4, Insightful)

    by N3WBI3 ( 595976 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @12:22PM (#10430156) Homepage
    What do you intend to do about the continuing groth of the federal government at the expense of states rights? Laws like No Chiled left Behind (Which Mr Bush created and Mr Kerry voted for) and provisions in the patriot act unconstitutionally infringe on the states.
    • This is a good question, if a bit short on the grammar... anyway It won't be asked as part of this survey. I submitted almost the same thing, as did others, and neither made the top 50.

      Such a question requires the asker, and those voting on the top 50, to actually understand balance, and the notion that there are some laws the federal government cannot pass, but the states can... and vice versa.

      Until folks from coast to coast stop thinking of themselves as only as citizens of "America" and not citizens o
    • Laws like No Chiled left Behind (Which Mr Bush created and Mr Kerry voted for) and provisions in the patriot act unconstitutionally infringe on the states.

      No Child Left Behind means that you don't get certain funds from the federal government, if you don't follow the attached rules. It has nothing to do with interfering with the soverignty of the states.

      If you don't like it, don't follow it. You just won't get money from the federal government.

      LK
      • I think the usual states-rights arguments against this line of reasoning is that the federal government is taking money from citizens living in a state, and conditionally giving it back. It's kind of a back door way for the federal government to control state governments - the taxes aren't optional, afterall. As far as I can tell, the back door method works. The grandparent poster's question is valid, your defense of Bush notwithstanding. The republicans of old would have made a similar argument, I thin
        • It's kind of a back door way for the federal government to control state governments - the taxes aren't optional, afterall.

          States are able to dictate their own tax rates. If they need more money, they have the option of raising taxes. But, no one ever really wants that.

          The grandparent poster's question is valid, your defense of Bush notwithstanding.

          States have the choice to not take the money and not deal with the attached strings.

          LK
          • States are one of the few organizations easily swayed by people voting with their feet -- if they lose the federal funds, they either need to cut services or raise taxes - both of which result in people leaving the state for metaphorically greener pastures. Look at the 'federal drinking age - every state towed the line - there was too much money at risk. A good number of hte states are already running incrasingly massive deficits -- do you honestly think they can afford to, either short or long term, to giv
            • States are one of the few organizations easily swayed by people voting with their feet -- if they lose the federal funds, they either need to cut services or raise taxes - both of which result in people leaving the state for metaphorically greener pastures.

              The federal government is also subject to the same pressures. When it becomes too expensive to have a corporate HQ in the US, they have and will relocate to another country that is more friendly.

              Is it too expensive to make VCRs here? Yes. They get made
  • Last I heard, Nader was a member of the Reform party, not quite an important third party. Wouldn't people be better served if they interviewed David Cobb instead?
    • 1) They already have interviewed David Cobb,

      2) The reform party has pulled more than 10% in two presidential elections and elected a governer, what have the greens done nationally?

      No while the reform party has fallen on hardtimes it is currently on the ballot in as many states as the green, and while you (a) may not agree with them, or (b) think that because they will most likely get fewer votes than the greens (although they will get more) does not mean they should be ignored.

      The reform party has bec

  • Only 12 questions? (Score:4, Funny)

    by bretharder ( 771353 ) <bret.harder@gmai ... m minus math_god> on Monday October 04, 2004 @01:07PM (#10430437)
    These people are running for the highest office in the United States;
    Yet they only have to submit to 12 questions?

    Jesus! A McDonalds application has more than 12 questions!
    • Yeah, but these applicants can read the questions.

      • You know what's funny? Ten years from now, taxes will be sky high, the elderly will starve in their trailers, and the middle class will be mostly a memory. Yeah, real funny.

        I'm going to stab the next conservative I meet. I hope it's you! :P

        • Thank you for proving his sig is true....
        • Don't blame me, I'm voting for Bush.

          Neither candidate is proposing something to prevent the collapse of Social Secuirty, but at least Bush is talking about investing some of the Social Security payroll tax (i.e., the additional 15% income tax you and I will never see back) to help prolong it. All the Democrats want to do is back out on the original SS promise by means-testing payouts. Forcing me to invest a sixth of my salary for my retirement for an expected cumulative interest rate of 1-2% per annum su

          • Re:Only 12 questions? (Score:3, Insightful)

            by hrieke ( 126185 )

            Well since question #20 [slashdot.org] is mine, I'll give you my response.

            Background:

            We're talking about 73 trillion dollars here, to be spent over the next 50 years. Allowing for a bell curve, that means in about 15 years time we'll be heading for the sharpest increase in the curve.

            Since congress never met a pork project it didn't like, both the Repbulicians and Democrates used Social Security to spend money that they didn't have, on the promiss that it would be paid back.

            The problem

            • Now what Bush is suggesting
            • Minor correction:

              PS. I find your sig to be part of the problem with politics in general- too much 'Get the other guy' mentality.

            • See, now this is the kind of detail I'd love to hear from our leaders and candidates. You've brought up some excellent points that I'd neither heard of nor thought of.

              At the end of the day, SS is screwed and those of us who aren't retiring in next decade or two are screwed. It would just be nice to somehow modify (or get out of) a system we didn't agree to, won't benefit from and don't want to be in.

      • Concept Junkie said: Yeah, but these applicants can read the questions.

        I'm not entirely sure, but I assume you are referring to the MacDonald's applicants, right?

  • Coming Global Energy Crisis (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ksemlerK ( 610016 ) <kurtsemler@@@gmail...com> on Monday October 04, 2004 @01:14PM (#10430524) Homepage
    What does your party intend to do about the coming shortage of petroleum based energy that will be even more apparent in the near future, (2-3 years)? I have heard President Bush's rhetoric regarding a "Hydrogen Economy", but hydrogen is merely an energy carrier, and not an energy source. Hydrogen may be the most abundant material in the universe, but it does not exist in a free state on the planet earth. Hydrogen must be extracted from compounds such as water or natural gas. Since natural gas is depleting at a very rapid rate on the north American Continent, and importation of this substance over oceans is very difficult. The effort to create a "hydrogen economy" is just boondoggle. If elected, what policies will you implement to ensure the continuance of energy for little cost, and how you ensure that a hard crash scenario does not occur? What will you do to ensure the survival of the "American Way" of life? Please only provide answers that are actually feasible with current technology, not just political tripe. I do not buy into the blind optimism that the media and political parties are forcing upon the American people. Positive thinking will not benefit a nation when mother nature is holding the loaded gun to our collective heads.
    • I think in order for that question to be valid everyone has to agree the world is going to end in 'the near future'.
      • The world will not end until the sun becomes a red giant in about 4 billion years and engulfs the earth in its rapidly expanding diameter. Even then, the physical existence of the earth will still be present, merely inside of a star and uninhabitable. It is not the end of the world I am talking about, it is simply a severe change in the American way of life. I simply do not want the problems of Venezuela or Ethiopia to arrive on the shores of the US, and the peak oil [peakoil.com] situation threatens to do exactly tha
  • These questions have a HUGE slant to them! They are not neutral nor are they informative. It seems that most of them are accusatory toward the President, and are 'softball' questions for the Democratic candidate. The questions come from a stance of supostion and assumption. Look at the Education (Sex Ed.) question; it is so biased that it was the straw that caused me to terminate my voting for the moderated questions. People are going to seriously ask these questions and expect an answer that they are
    • Maybe the people asking the questions -- hard-working young people who don't live in their parents' basements and have real concerns about the future -- have a reason for being accusatory toward Bush.

      Did you even consider that, or do you just automatically assume that anything that doesn't favor your guy is "biased"?
    • These questions have a HUGE slant to them! They are not neutral nor are they informative. It seems that most of them are accusatory toward the President, and are 'softball' questions for the Democratic candidate.

      I wholeheartedly agree. We really need to be less partisan: it is just so unfair to ask questions which are aimed towards the strengths of John Kerry and the weaknesses of George W. Bush. For example, the question, "what is six plus seven?". That's just completely biased against W.

      Damn liberals.

    • They are not neutral nor are they informative.

      Perhaps the average young voter isn't neutral.

      Why do I even bother reading the politics.slashdot section any longer?

      Only you know the answer to that.
    • Most the questions are biased one way or the other, too easy to dodge by spouting bullshit, or just plain pointless. I chose the least crappy ones, in hopes that my small vote would help negate the opinion of some 12 yr old out there.

      Still, I couldnt find ten I liked.

  • Disenchantment with Politics? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Yokaze ( 70883 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @02:15PM (#10431374)
    Do you consider think there are sign of disenchantment with politics or especially with politicians?

    If so, in which ways do you consider partisanship the problem, and in what the ways the de-facto two party system.

    What have you done, and do you to plan do to counteract this?

    How do you think your political campaign affects the image of politicians in general?
  • The summary promised a poll I could vote on, but I saw no Cowboy Neal option. Surely Bush, Kerry, and Nader would provide an insightful commentary on the life of said cowboy!
  • Unfortunately, in order to help select questions, you have to trust the NVP with your personally identifiable information. After a quick look at their privacy policy [newvotersproject.org], I don't. Particularly:

    Use:
    We do not use any information collected for any purpose inconsistent with state or federal law, or for any purpose other than forwarding the goals of the New Voter Project.

    Seems like dodging the issue to me...normally use of personal information is spelled out in some detail. Not to mention that political organ

  • A question that will never see air time (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mabu ( 178417 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @04:15PM (#10432841)
    Mr. Bush, why is our government protecting one of the world's most notorious arms smugglers [globalpolicy.org], Victor Bout [pbs.org], known affectionately as the "merchant of death" and is suspected of supplying weapons to Al Quaeda? The administration has pushed to protect Bout from international sanctions claiming he's "assisting" the US in Iraq. Why is our country protecting this criminal? Why would the US do business with a man who has been supplying terrorists with weapons? Why is this story not being covered by the mainstream media?

  • Um... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Slipped_Disk ( 532132 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @04:42PM (#10433243) Homepage Journal
    Are slashdotters becoming morons? I'm sad that I only have 5 mod points, and i'm not wasting them modding all the crap on this article as offtopc.

    Clue in: We're not proposing new questions, and this *IS NOT* an Ask Slashdot. If you want your voice to have ANY chance of being heard go to the site (http://youthdebate.newvotersproject.org/) and vote for the questions you want to see answered by these candidates.

    If y'all have INTELLIGENT comments to make, by all means make 'em, but quit baiting eachother with the usual republicrat false-posturing "A is a better choice than B because A stands for everything that B doesn't" crap, it's sickening.

  • have you seen the questions? (Score:3, Informative)

    by mbonig ( 727002 ) on Monday October 04, 2004 @09:59PM (#10435923) Homepage
    look at these questions:
    16. Nearly 100 American media resources today are owned by only 5 corporations. [newvotersproject.org]While the Senate's overruling of the Federal Communications Commission's controversial 3-to-2 decision to further deregulate media ownership rules in June of 2003 is a source of encouragement, most Americans want more variety in their sources of news and entertainment. What will you do to ensure that Americans have accurate sources of information to base their democratic decisions on?

    that is 100 times better of a question then the crap we saw the other night! I want to know how the candidate is going to fix things in MY country before worrying about someone elses!

    11. Why won't the candidates address the difference between civil marriage and religious marriage? [newvotersproject.org] Do they recognize the significance that this demarcation holds as a stand against discrimination? Do they realize how their unwillingness to address this issue impacts every aspect of GLBT's (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender), and their families', lives? Are they aware that when political issues call civil rights into question that hate crimes rise exponentially?

    I'm glad somebody is bringing up gay issues in the debate. This is important to Americans.

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