Posted on 09/27/2021 5:48:52 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
Many there are who have attained public office and sworn an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. Alas, as we are now learning, for many both the oath and the Constitution are little more than a means to obtain power and abuse the liberty of common citizens.
As a way to curb these abuses of power, I am here soliciting input from fellow FReepers - especially those who are well-schooled in Constitutional governance as it ought to be - to posit questions for those who aspire to public office as a way better to weed out pathological seekers of power, etc.
For example: Why should those who vote you into office consider you to be a better example when it comes to upholding and defending the Constitution than those who are contending for the same office? What is the difference between a right and a privilege?
My hope is that, if enough questioning issues forth here, we can refine it and present it for any citizen to ask anytime of those to whom we give consent to rule.
Never, ever, should we give consent to those who cannot articulate the foundation of their office and our God-given liberty. We need clear, pointed questions and answers lest we suffer further degradations in the body politic of the United States of America.
Go for it. God bless America.
About 50 IQ points.
Will you be willing to sign this contract with your constituents that you will resign your seat immediately if you do not represent them the way you said you would during your campaign?
Will you provide all your constituents with a copy of the bills that your are asked to vote on and will you always vote on the record?
Will you record any and all conversations, meetings, phone calls, emails, text messages with any lobbyist or special interest group and make those recordings available to your constituents?
Why do you want to run for ________? What issues concern you the most? How are you qualified? What are the specific day to day duties of the position? For a collegial position, how often have you been to public meetings of the __________?
How do you assess the performance of the current incumbent? What would you do differently? Be prepared to ask detailed questions and to discuss taxes, budget, spending, and legal and political issues involving the position up for election.
How have you prepared to run for that office? Can you pass a detailed background check? What issues and negative information would a background check find?
Have you ever run for office before? How would you finance your campaign, and what budget do you have? Do you have a wide circle of friends and family ready to support your campaign? What experience do you have as a public speaker?
How do you assess other candidates for the position? How do you plan to defeat them?
Can you live on the salary for the position? Can you bear the loss of time and income that running for public office imposes? Do your immediate family support your desire to run for office and are they prepared to make sacrifices and accept burdens to do so? Have you analyzed the political demographics of the district you want to run in? Do you have a written out campaign plan?
Those kinds of questions sort out the wishers and wannabes from the serious candidates. They also identify weaknesses that need to be remedied in even the best candidates.
Yet is the candidate someone you actually want to elect? Here is how to find out.
Ask for examples in detail of times when they took a stand for or against something or someone based on principle in spite of the time and effort required and risks to job, career, or reputation?
Did you win or lose, and how and why? What did you learn from such experiences?
What made you into a conservative and a populist? Look for connections between personal events and circumstances and the ideas that animate conservatism and populism. Ask for details of books and articles read and any mentors who influenced them along the way.
The questioner should press for names, contact information, and other details in order to be able to verify what you are told. Most people will stumble badly on this, with even practiced liars unable to contrive supposed examples.
What is the difference between a citizen and a natural born citizen?
Clearly from the language of Article II Sec.1 there is a difference.
The difference is that one can only naturally be a citizen when one cannot be anything else.
The children of foreigners are born something else from their foreign parent(s) and are therefore not naturally Americans.
Same principle that gives Ted Cruz any claim to US citizenship being born in Canada, he inherited it from his mother.
He is just as eligible as Anwar al-Awlaki’s kids, born in Yemen to one citizen parent.
Or all the Chinese tourist babies.
Your response is excellent. My hope is to focus on the issue of their oath of office, what it means, and how they aim to uphold it. Fair game are questions that cull out the purpose and scope of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and any compuctions they may have regarding the latter.
Your initial question, I presume, pertains to the USA in scope, and attempts to get at the difference between “naturalized” and “ natural born” citizen, with an eye toward qualifications for the office of POTUS. Most who seek public office do not aim so high. How do we identify the pretenders by way of inquiry?
I know your reply is “off the cuff” as it were, and as I often do. May I ask which of the two in your view enjoys the higher IQ and why? Of course you may just want to be facetious. That’s okay.
Your post is something out of the already a political player handbook. I don’t want any of that. I prefer the average American, not a lawyer type, a normal hard working person or business owner. I want there to be some skeletons in the closet. As people grow up and learn the hard lessons of life and the consequences of those lessons it builds character and most will garner a constructive approach to problems.
The trouble with our society is that Noone will vote into office anyone who has any bad past. The opponent would exploit that to the hilt and they’d have zero chance.
How about do they love this Country...the USA?
You have a point, but an astute interviewer can use my questions to find the gold nugget among the gravel. Unfortunately though, people with unresolved personal issues don’t learn and get better in office.
We chose just that and saw how fiercely the establishment/deep state tore him down and continue their slander and lies. But unlike a compromised politician our guy takes the licking and keeps on kicking (tag line).
My high school guidance counselor gave me every test he could throw and after almost two years said "Mike, the best I can determine is your best path is in politics."
After getting over the revulsion I replied "Hey man. What did I do to you to deserve that? I plan on working for a living". Other than that 1979 was an awesome year.
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