Some tougher questions for GOP debate

Tomorrow night, political junkies like me will endure two long hours of a presidential primary debate, the seventh of this election cycle.

This debate, hosted by Fox News Channel, Google and the Republican Party of Florida, will have moderators and panelists like regular debates, but it will also include questions people have submitted online, either as text or as videos.

There is still time to submit questions, and I hope a large number of people do. The candidates need to be confronted about issues that moderators have left untouched in previous debates, and they need to be pressed on ones the moderators have brought up but gone easy on.

To get our brainstorming process started, I’d like to share the eight questions I’ve submitted.

Let’s start with the questions about issues that have scarcely been discussed so far.
First, about China policy: Do you agree with the notion that America’s relationship with

China is necessarily adversarial, that it can only be a zero-sum game in which our gains are their losses and vice versa?

If so, why?

Second, about gay rights: Do you support the legalization of same-sex marriage, and did you support the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell?” If not, please tell us how you expect your grandchildren to look back on your position in 50 years.

Third, about drug policy: To what extent do you think this country’s “War on (some) Drugs” has contributed to the violence in Mexico? If you think it has had a large effect, please discuss your position about whether the War on Drugs needs to be ended.

Fourth, about election law: Republicans in Pennsylvania are planning to change the way that state’s electoral votes are allocated so that the state will no longer be winner take all, and Republicans in Nebraska are planning to change their process from a congressional district-based scheme to a winner-take-all system.

Both appear to be doing this in order to make the president’s re-election less likely.

How concerned are you that you might win the presidency as a result of these politically motivated policy changes?

Next, let’s re-examine some issues that have been raised before but haven’t been explored fully.

First, the death penalty: In recent debates, the death penalty has been a hot topic because of Gov. Rick Perry’s record in Texas. Do you support the death penalty?

If you do, and if you also believe that the government is largely incompetent, how concerned are you about the possibility that innocent people are being put to death as a result of this policy?

Second, the intersection of private life and public office: In a previous debate, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann had to explain her remarks about how wives should be “submissive” to their husbands.

If elected, will you follow any authority other than the Constitution and your own judgment?

Third, Middle East policy: Several of you have sparred over the merits and flaws of our current Middle East policy.  

Do you believe that this country has an obligation to depose oppressive regimes, even when those regimes pose no direct threat to us, and even when we have no way of knowing if their replacements will be improvements?

If so, how do you propose that we decide which regimes to oppose and which to protect?

Fourth, economic policy: Some of you have attacked your fellow candidates’ job creation records,  but much of a governor’s success in that realm is a result of the policy environment that prevailed in his state before he took office.

If you have been the governor of a state, please point out some specific examples of policies you championed that improved your state’s business climate, whether that climate was favorable to begin with or not.

To submit your questions, go to www.youtube.com/foxnews.

­— jarlower@indiana.edu