Every once in a while, I”ll take some of the NYT’s more interesting articles and post them. This one was ingenious. 18 Questions for 21 different candidates and see which answers best meet your way of thinking. The winners in my book  (in no particular order) and the reasons why were

Question 1 In an ideal world, would anyone own handguns?

Give this one to Buttigieg and Harris for a weird reason, for both noticing that in an ideal world, this question would not be necessary. Everyone else follows the cookie cutter answer but Harris and Buttigieg realized that the question was flawed in its premise, ideal worlds don’t need to be questioned. It actually takes a little smarts to realize that. They were the only two to kind of point it out. Mistakes people made, attacking the NRA because it just seems political, doesn’t seem like a practical solution. It’s like when the Repubs attack Planned Parenthood, they are doing it just because they don’t donate funds to their side.

Question 2 (A lot of words about healthcare)

This question was what Sanders has been saying since his hair was still dark and combed, just kidding, Sanders recognizes this to be a problem but none have the solution that I was looking for. If President Trump can declare illegal immigration a national emergency, why can’t the next President declare healthcare a national security issue? The answer I was looking for was cancer shouldn’t be profitable, it should be cured. The only way you do that is by taking profit away from insurance (not the pharmaceuticals or the hospitals or nurses, just the insurance companies). Make it a private monopolized company which would allow for strict government oversight and profit cap, no millionaires in the business, and since it would be just one company, they would not be allowed to lobby. A lot like NASA, but for healthcare. This would minimize how much you have to pay and maximize the amount of care.

Question 5 Who is your hero and why?

Lol, a lot of Oedipus Complex in these answers and a lot of love for their spouse or life partner. Abraham Lincoln, MLK and the Roosevelts were mentioned a lot. Some picked a Mexican freedom fighter and another Ms. Tubman of the underground railroad. The answer were quite genuine and heartfelt, differing from some of their other answers to other questions, these were more instinctive. I’m a fan of Lincoln, not only because he held the country together in one of it’s most turbulent times but because of how intelligent the President was. He figured out how to become his party’s nominee while being the least known candidate. He, like the Jeopardy champion, figured out the flaw in the process that could be exploited to win. That is a trait that maybe .0001% of the people on this planet have, and Lincoln showed why that trait was so important. It’s seeing the obscure as obvious. I’ll be looking for that in all candidates. It’s not about always having the right answer, it’s about knowing it when it presents itself.

Question 8 Something about illegal immigration being a problem.

The answer is….of course we don’t want illegal immigration, but the problem is not the U.S. or the immigrants that are obviously fleeing violence, it’s obviously the country they are coming from that has poor and corrupt leadership. Castro made a great analytical point about fixing the problem. Can’t be short sighted. Fix the country they are coming from and you fix illegal immigration. Then all immigration would be legal because all nations would be profitable. A Marshall Plan for Central and South America. That was a great answer. Can’t stop a hurricane by locking the door people, can only slow it down. What else, if building a wall didn’t work, building a bigger wall is just going to obstruct your view of it not working. I got some more, the definition of crazy is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome. If none of the ditch digging, wall building, fence having avenues worked, then maybe we’re headed to crazy town unless we come up with a better solution, which is where Castro and Warren differed in all the answers.

Question 12 Do you support or oppose the death penalty?

What can I say, this almost went down party lines except for Bullock, (no relation to Sandra, I’m guessing) but the death penalty should be a personal choice. If someone is locked up for life and has no chance of parole and exhausted any and all remedy that they had to become a free person, if they choose to take the death penalty instead of living in 7 x 9 cell for the rest of their lives and because they hate the view of chimney smoke and because they cancelled GoT, then it should be their right to die. I think it less humane to cage a person for life then to let them have the option or choice to meet their maker. Oddly,  Dems are for abortion but against the option or choice of death penalty. Again, I think it should be the person’s choice, not the states.

Question 18 Does anyone deserve to be a billionaire?

LOL, sure, but their employees should be millionaires, and if they are millionaires, then their employees should hundred thousandaires, and so on. That’s how equality works, it isn’t trickle down economics, it’s wide open spout guaranteed wages.

My favorites were (in no particular order) Sanders, Harris, Buttigieg, Castro, Warren and Klobuchar. I really wanted to root for Gabbard but her answers were short and to the point but not in-depth, nothing really stood out. Booker was to emotional, he needs to let the Jersey out, he seems too caring (that sounds wrong but you know what I mean). Beto seems to be looking for the answer that you want to hear, sorry man, just seems that way. I liked Gillibrand but she almost seemed a little indecisive. Still a little early to tell.

Here is the big point. None were that funny, not that it matters a lot, being funny, maybe Buttigieg, but Trump is hilarious even if our politics sometimes don’t mesh and he can captivate. I wrote a post about a freshman congresswoman, Abigail Spanberger, and the NYT had interviewed her. Spanberger beat a good ol’ boy in his backyard that was dominated by good ol’ boy politics. She did it by being forceful, honest and ….. listen to the interview, funny or not scared of trying to be a little light hearted. The best thing, just a trick, self deprecating humor, works all the time. Don’t be afraid to point out some of your faults, if you don’t, President Trump will definitely do it for you, so you might as well beat him to the punch. Oh, by the way, you know who won with a little self deprecation in between powerful speeches, if you don’t, then why did you list him as one of your heroes. #16.