Five Very Interesting Questions

By way of Lean Left, here are five questions worth answering:

1. If you could permanently change one thing about the U.S. right now, what would it be, and why?

If this is a structural question about U.S. politics, then I'd probably like to change the way we run elections. This means something akin to public financing and a ban on individual and PAC contributions, with candidates nominated by a mixed party convention/primary system. There is no more serious problem in American politics today than the growing elitism of our electoral process.

If this is a question about U.S. society, then I am torn in a number of different directions. A national unionization rate of 50% would be cool, or an educational system that actually taught critical thinking and citizenship. But if we're going to be pie-in-the-sky, how about an ideological self-placement in America of 50% liberal, 25% moderate, and 25% conservative?

2. If you could appoint absolutely anyone to the office of U.S. President right now, replacing the current President, who would it be, and why?

Anyone alive? That's easy, Bill Clinton. Warts and all, he's still been the most effective liberal President since Lyndon Johnson.

Oh, but you mean someone constitutionally eligible. Probably Barack Obama: the election of a black male as President would do for African-Americans what Kennedy did for Irish & Catholics.

3. If you’re married, what do you appreciate most about your spouse and why?

I'm lucky enough to have a beautiful, intelligent, fun-loving wife. But I think the thing I love most about her is here fierce independence. She doesn't take crap from anybody, including me.

4. If you had to adopt a religious faith other than the one you currently belong to (if you belogn to one at all), which would you pick, and why?

I could most accurately be described as a deist. I don't know much about the eastern religions, so I can't really speak to them. Today's mainstream Islam and Christianity are deeply troubling to me, given their tendencies to social oppression. Maybe liberal Judaism.

5. If you could go back in time and witness one historical event, but not alter the outcome, which would you choose, and why?

The Gettysburg Address. There has been no greater statement of democracy. Ever. Kennedy's First Inaugural comes close, but the results of that speech make it a bit too poignant for me.