Soap Box

Mentally questioning what I hear a politician say has become an automatic reflex with me. So many times I doubt the voracity and even the sincerity behind the statements, reactions and game faces they present to the media and the world.

And that only intensifies during campaign season when we are bombarded with interviews, sound bites, talking head analyses and meandering, slanted print media pieces designed to subtly build up or destroy certain candidates, downright lies by politicians and endless streams of rumor and innuendo.

I sometimes think it would be a good idea to set some ground rules concerning questions about one's personal life and put candidates under oath for the debates, knowing that the ones who refused to participate had a lot to hide.

Radical?

Yes.

Practical and cut to the chase?

Yes.

And the questioning should be taken out of the hands of television personalities with an agenda ax to grind and at least 50% asked by ordinary citizens, registered voters from both parties.

For instance, the people of Kentucky, West Virginia and the rest of the coal producing areas would like to know what a candidate's position on coal energy is.

America's legal gun owners would like to know a candidate's true feelings about firearms.

Catholics and other Christians would like to know a candidate's real stance on abortion and just how far they are willing to allow it to go.

Veterans who have laid it all on the line for America have the right to know what a candidate would do to clean up the Veteran's administration and what they are going to do to reverse Obama's decimation of the armed forces.

All ordinary citizens deserve an open and comprehensive policy about what will be done to clean up the corruption in the IRS and the other government entities who have stepped over the line.

All America needs to know what a candidate plans to do about the national debt that will squash our nation like a bug if not immediately addressed. And anybody who seriously runs for president should already have at least the blueprint of a plan in place.

Any candidate who claims to be qualified to straighten out America's fiscal problems has to have a plan in place to reduce the backbreaking entitlement load on our government's shoulders.

And what about energy independence, drilling, fracking, hydrogen cells, true assessment of solar and wind efficiency, hydro, coal power and all the options available to make America totally energy independent?

The Jews and - other supporters of Israel in America - have a right to know how deeply the candidate values our relationship and security agreement with Israel and how far they are willing to go to enforce it.

The entire nation deserves a brief, precise and comprehensive explanation of the short and long term ramifications of Obamacare and the candidates stance toward either fixing it or scrapping it.

Each candidate should have to express the kind of foreign policy they would pursue. Will we continue to draw imaginary red lines? Will we continue to let Russia fly their warplanes and sail their submarines provocatively close to our territorial air and water space without a meaningful response?

Will we stand up to the world like the powerful nation we are or will we continue the weak, placating policies of the present administration, demoralizing the military and pretending that Iran would actually follow the guidelines to any agreement?

How about it candidates? If you're really sincere in running for President, how about debating under oath?

All you've got to do is tell the truth.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels