{"id":370,"date":"2008-10-15T20:37:07","date_gmt":"2008-10-15T20:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/10\/some-noneconomic-values-questi.html"},"modified":"2008-10-15T20:37:07","modified_gmt":"2008-10-15T20:37:07","slug":"some-noneconomic-values-questi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/10\/some-noneconomic-values-questi.html","title":{"rendered":"Some Non-Economic (“Values”) Questions for the Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The relentless focus on the economy during the debates has been appropriate. But with this being the last debate I do hope they’ll spend at least a few moments on non-economic questions. Here are a few values-oriented questions I’d ask:
\nSen. McCain you’ve said you oppose Roe v. Wade because you’re pro-life and you think abortion should be left to the states. If Roe v. Wade is overturned and Congress passed a ban on most abortions, would you sign it (because you’re pro-life) or veto it (because you think it should be left to the states)?
\nSen. Obama, you’ve said you want to reduce the number of abortions. If that’s the case, why do you support federal funding through Medicaid of abortion? And why do you support the Freedom of Choice Act which goes well beyond preserving Roe v. Wade and actually wipes out existing state laws restricting abortion?
\nAccording to the CIA, America now ranks 42nd in infant mortality – the percentage of babies who die in the first year of life. Among the countries that have a better infant mortality rate than the U.S.: Singapore, Slovenia, Malta and Cuba. Why do you think this is and what are you going to do about it?
\nYou’ve both said you’re against gay marriage and would support civil unions for gay couples. But the big question for the federal government is whether states that don’t believe in gay marriage should be required to honor the marriages of those states that do perform gay marriages. What do you think?
\nEveryone agrees that it’s primarily the parents responsibility to protect their kids from violence and sex on the internet. But what is the government’s role?
\nDo you believe affirmative action should be based only on race or also on class, the economic circumstances of a person?
\nDo you believe more sex education and birth control availability would lead to fewer abortions or more abortions?
\nWhat’s the biggest moral problem in America today?
\nYou’ve both talked about the importance of healthy families. What should the government do to reduce the number of divorces?
\nSen. McCain you said “the Constitution established America as a Christian nation.” <\/a>What did you mean?
\nSen. Obama, you support government funding of faith based groups. But your initial plan proposed not allowing faith-based organizations to prefer people of their own faith when hiring. That would reverse the policies not only of the Bush administration but of Bill Clinton. If you want more faith-based action how can you endorse a proposal that would so restrict their involvement?
\nReaders, what questions would you ask?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The relentless focus on the economy during the debates has been appropriate. But with this being the last debate I do hope they’ll spend at least a few moments on non-economic questions. Here are a few values-oriented questions I’d ask: Sen. McCain you’ve said you oppose Roe v. Wade because you’re pro-life and you think…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nSome Non-Economic ("Values") Questions for the Debate - Steven Waldman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/stevenwaldman\/2008\/10\/some-noneconomic-values-questi.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some Non-Economic ("Values") Questions for the Debate - Steven Waldman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The relentless focus on the economy during the debates has been appropriate. 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