Monday night’s presidential debate is the first time we’ll see Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump go head-to-head. Instead of lobbing insults across airwaves, they’ll be hurling barbs across a stage in Albany, New York.
You’ve got to feel a little sorry for the wonks who ironed out the debate rules and for debate moderator Lester Holt. Hillary and Trump hate rules, in the rare instances they even bother to find out what the rules are.
These may be the two most loathed nominees in our nation’s history, but one of them will be the next president. We can’t ignore them, and we need them to answer questions that somehow — over a year into the campaign — have never been asked.
1. The country is $19 trillion in debt. What is your plan to start getting us out?
This will not be solved in one presidential term, but it is currently getting perpetually worse.
2. Would you change the country’s current health care system in any way? If so, how?
This is 1/6 of our economy. People are unhappy with how it’s working (or, not working). Each candidate should have concrete policy proposals on this.
3. What is the government currently doing that should be cut, and what is it not doing that you would start under your administration?
Nobody is talking about the size of the government. Conservatives are getting left out of the conversation.
4. Who will you appoint to the Supreme Court? Start naming names of your potential nominees.
If they haven’t thought seriously about this, that’s a problem. And no, having staffers write a list and then forgetting about it does not count as thinking seriously.
5. What are the steps you would take to solve the refugee crisis?
“I won’t let them in” is not a strategy. Neither is “let them all in.” Syria is creating more refugees every day. There must be a plan — even if it’s a multinational one — to make it stop.
6. Should the families of 9/11 victims be allowed to sue Saudi Arabia?
President Obama just vetoed a bill that would have allowed such cases. Saudi Arabia is our ally against Iran, but they’re a repressive regime that’s waging war in Yemen. They also funded 9/11. They also donated to the Clinton Foundation.
7. How will you make high quality education less expensive?
Government subsidies have made college costs skyrocket. College is no longer the ticket to secure and lucrative employment that it once was. Public K-12 education isn’t preparing kids for college or for a career. It takes in more money each year, and yet American kids are still falling behind their peers in developed countries.
The candidate who talks policy and not personality will win. If neither of them does that, then America loses.
