Other Issues

1. In your opinion, is it appropriate for police, federal, state, or local, armed with more than their sidearms, to monitor or disrupt peaceful demonstrations or gatherings?
2. In your opinion, is it appropriate for the government, at any level, to gather information on the day-to-day business and communications of citizens, in or out of the country, without a warrant?
3. Please select one of the following sentences that best describes your stance on the death penalty:
   1. It should be abolished.
   2. The rare use of it right now is about right.
   3. The number of crimes for which a person can be sentenced to death should be expanded, and executions should happen more quickly after conviction.
4. In your opinion, is it appropriate for the government, at any level, to use eminent domain in order to take property from one citizen in order to give it to another private citizen so that it can be used commercially?
5. In your opinion, is it the business of the government, at any level, to regulate which intoxicating substances, such as marijuana, cocaine, alcohol, and heroin, adults over the age of 21 consume, assuming that they cause no harm to others by so doing?
6. In your opinion, is it the appropriate for the federal government to dictate to states which intoxicating substances the state wishes to regulate within its borders?
7. In your opinion, is appropriate to require possession of a valid, government issued photo ID in order to vote?  If so, would you support spending programs to provide these ID’s to people who cannot afford to get one on their own?
8. In your opinion, is it appropriate for the government to get involved in the business dealings of any private-sector company, for any purpose?
9. In 50 words or less, please describe the powers and responsibilities of the office you are seeking.
10. In 50 words or less, please describe the powers of the executive branch of the government.
11. In 50 words or less, please describe the powers of the legislative branch of government.
12. In 50 words or less, please describe the powers of the judicial branch of government.
13. In 50 words or less, please describe the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, including where you think the limits to this power should be.
14. Do you feel it is appropriate for the executive branch to issue orders that further a goal when the legislative branch does not act toward that goal?
15. Do you feel it is appropriate for the government to dictate whom a citizen can marry?
16. In 50 words or less, please describe a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that you disagree with and why.
17. In 50 words or less, please describe a federal statute that you would most like to see repealed, and why.  Please do not re-use a statute that was previously discussed in this survey.
18. In 50 words or less, please describe a federal executive order that you would most like to see rescinded, and why.
19. In 50 words or less, please define “social justice”.
20. Please select one of the following sentences that most closely resembles your opinion of what should be done about illegal immigration:
    1. Seal the border, enforce current laws, send illegal immigrants home.
    2. Loosen legal immigration standards, provide a path to legalization for those who are currently here illegally.
    3. Legalize those who are already here, welcome those who want to come.
21. Do you support lifetime limits on the amount of government support a citizen can receive through programs such as SNAP and WIC?
22. Do you believe it is within the government’s power to restrict the amount of money a person or organization can give to a political candidate or cause?  If not, do you support efforts to amend the Constitution to allow it?
23. Do you believe that it is appropriate for police agencies to seize the property of a citizen based on suspicion of a crime, even if no crime is proven?

Military Issues

1. Please select the sentence that best fits your stance on military spending:
   1. We have gone too far in cutting back on the military.
   2. We are on a good course as things stand right now.
   3. We have not cut deeply enough.
2. Please select the sentence that best fits your stance on military personnel numbers:
   1. Our current numbers and our projected strength over the next five years are appropriate.
   2. We are cutting too deeply into our talent pool already.
   3. We have not cut deeply enough.
3. Please select the sentence that best represents your stance on the mission of our military:
   1. Kill people and break stuff
   2. Defend the borders of our country and our national interests overseas
   3. Bringing stability to critical regions of the world.
   4. Carrying out humanitarian relief, in addition to helping our friends and allies around the world.
4. In your opinion, is it worthwhile to fund research into leaps in military technology, or is it better to fund evolutionary change in existing military technology?
5. In 50 words or less, please tell us about the overseas military activity that you would most like to see eliminated and why:
6. In 50 words or less, please tell us about the domestic military activity that you would most like to see eliminated and why:
7. In your opinion, is it better for all of the military services to use common equipment (trucks, airplanes, helicopters, uniforms, firearms) in order to maximize efficiency, or to have each service develop and purchase their own equipment in order to maximize effectiveness for their particular mission?
8. In your opinion, does the Department of Veteran’s Affairs require top to bottom reform, understanding the cost of doing so, in order to improve its service to veterans?
9. In your opinion, should the Department of Veteran’s Affairs be moved under the Department of Defense?
10. Do you believe that military retirements should be reformed so that retirees do not receive payments until after they reach a certain age?

I really appreciate the White House sending this to me today.  I needed a catharsis.  As always, my comments are in italics.

President Obama spoke to service men and women at MacDill Air Force Base yesterday about the U.S. strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL — a terrorist organization that is killing innocent, unarmed civilians in both Iraq and Syria. ISIL, also known as ISIS or the Islamic State, is also responsible for the brutal murders of American journalists Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff.

Yep, nothing like using service-members as a backdrop.  I didn’t like it when Clinton did it, or Bush, but this administration must have a duty roster for who gets to be Photogenic Military Guy #37 this week.

Here are the key points the President made yesterday regarding ISIL and our strategy to defeat their forces:

1. ISIL is threatening America and our allies.

Our intelligence community has not yet detected specific plots from ISIL against our homeland, but they have repeatedly threatened our core interests, including our personnel, our embassies, our consulates, and our facilities in Iraq, Syria, and in the broader Middle East. “If left unchecked, they could pose a growing threat to the United States,” he said.

Yes, they’re making Internet videos of threats and beheadings, and have found a few useful idiots to take pictures of American landmarks.   Booga Booga.  But let’s be honest here.  I’ve seen true threats to America.  They usually come from real governments who have, you know, nuclear weapons and stuff.  These doofuses are, at best, as much of a threat as a jackal has to a bull elephant.   Annoying, maybe even able to inflict some damage, but not a threat. 

Oh, and if you’re looking to avenge the two Americans who were murdered by these trolls, how about we turn the tables on them and go all Carthage on their butts?  Nothing says “Don’t mess with us” like a graveyard full of the other side’s people and shattered cities.   Of course, that would require you admitting that Americans’ lives are worth more than the lives of cavedwellers and goatherds, so I won’t hold my breath.

2. The U.S. continues to conduct targeted airstrikes against ISIL.

The U.S. Air Force has conducted more than 160 airstrikes against ISIL, successfully protecting our personnel and facilities, killing ISIL fighters, and giving space for Iraqi and Kurdish forces to reclaim key territory. “They’ve helped our partners on the ground break ISIL sieges; helped rescue civilians cornered on a mountain; helped save the lives of thousands of innocent men, women and children,” the President said.

Yes, we’ve given the Iraqi’s space to reclaim territory they abandoned right after they dropped their rifles, left their artillery pieces, and took off their uniforms.  As allies, we’d have been better off if we enlisted the Brownie Scouts.  They at least know how to march.

3. American forces that have been deployed to Iraq do not and will not have a combat mission.

“As your Commander-in-Chief, I will not commit you, and the rest of our Armed Forces, to fighting another ground war in Iraq,” the President told servicemembers. Along with our airstrikes, U.S. forces will train, equip, advise, and assist local partners on the ground “so that they can secure their own countries’ futures.”

Just like our advisors in Vietnam didn’t have a combat role.  Tell that to Tom Davis, who died in Vietnam four years before the Tonkin Gulf incident.  Oh, and we spent the better part of a decade training and equipping those local ‘partners’, and look what we have to show for it.  Training the local yokels will accomplish about as much as setting the money and equipment it takes to do it on fire.

4. This is not and will not be America’s fight alone.

The U.S. will lead a broad coalition of countries who have a stake in this fight. France and the UK are already flying with us over Iraq, and other countries have committed to join this effort. Saudi Arabia has agreed to host American efforts to train and equip Syrian opposition forces. Australia and Canada are going to send military advisors to Iraq, while Germany is sending paratroopers to help offer training. Arab nations have agreed to strengthen their support for Iraq’s new government, a key ally in our strategy to defeat ISIL.

Ahahahahahahaahaha!  Wait, you’re serious?  Come on, Sparky, be honest.  Our allies, outside of the Anglosphere, have been as worthless as tits on a boar hog since about 1945.  The French and Italians couldn’t even sustain bombing in your unauthorized war in Libya without our help, and you can almost spit from their southern most points and hit Benghazi. 

Giving guns and basic combat training to the wogs in Iraq is going to do nothing but make us look foolish when we start noticing that some of our dead are shot with 5.56×45 instead of 7.26×39 in a couple of months.   The easiest way to equip ISIS in December is to equip the ‘moderate’ forces in the region in October.

International partners will help us cut off ISIL funding, gather intelligence, and prevent foreign fighters from entering — or leaving — the Middle East. And nearly 30 nations have joined American humanitarian relief to help civilians, including Sunni, Shia, Christian, Yezidi, or other religious minorities, that ISIL has driven from their homes.

International partners are the main source of ISIS funding, you dolt.  The biggest mistake Bush made on September 12, 2001, was to not cut off all relations with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and declare a moratorium on trade with anyone who did trade with them.  And if you want to stop foreign fighters from getting into the Middle East, maybe you ought to be talking to the British and the French.   It appears that a lot of their civilized young men have decided to grow their beards out, hop a flight, and get their jihad on.  I guess you can ask RyanAir to stop offering cheap flights to Ankara, but then again, it’s only a couple of days drive from London to Damascus.

As for giving aid to true refugees, yeah, I can get behind that.  Just as long as they don’t do it in Arkansas.

5. Congress should provide the authorities and resources the U.S. military needs to succeed.

The President has called on Congress to support our military with the necessary resources to train and equip Syrian opposition fighters. As he has said, America’s leadership position is strongest when the President and Congress work together and show a united front.

Training and equipping the Syrian opposition is the wrong thing to do.  Let me make this clear:  Assad is going nowhere, and even if, by some miracle, he was deposed, whatever replaces him is going to hate our guts.  There is no benefit to the American people by getting involved.  Quit diddling around in other people’s wars.

“Sending our servicemembers into harm’s way is not a decision I ever take lightly,” the President said. “It is the hardest decision I make as President. Nothing else comes close.”

Actually, I’m not convinced that figuring out whether to use a 9 Iron or not on the 13th hole isn’t a bigger decision for you.  You obviously didn’t have to think too long before detailing 3000 servicemembers to spend Christmas in either West Africa or quarantine to make sure they don’t bring Ebola back with them.

But this strategy will require the best military force in the world:

Frankly, there just aren’t a lot of other folks who can perform in the same ways — in fact, there are none. And there are some things only we can do. There are some capabilities only we have. That’s because of you — your dedication, your skill, your work, your families supporting you, your training, your command structure. Our Armed Forces are unparalleled and unique. And so when we’ve got a big problem somewhere around the world, it falls on our shoulders. And sometimes that’s tough. But that’s what sets us apart. That’s why we’re America. That’s what the stars and stripes are all about.

“In an uncertain world full of breathtaking change, the one constant is American leadership.”

Actually, the only constant we’ve had in our military since January 2009 has been either politicized social experimentation or distractions from whatever it is you’ve been up to.  Guess which one this falls into?

And, because of the strength and dedication of America’s military, the President made clear that we will send an unmistakable message to ISIL:

Whether in Iraq or in Syria, these terrorists will learn the same thing that the leaders of al Qaeda already know: We mean what we say; our reach is long; if you threaten America, you will find no safe haven. We will find you eventually.

Tough talk. If only he had a track record of crying havoc and letting slip the dogs of war, instead of sniveling loudly and jerking our chain to back it up.