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A few questions I wish all conservatives had to answer:

1. Do first world societies have a moral obligation to help its poor, elderly, and disabled?

2. Can all religious beliefs, including ones not shared by you, justifiably be used to influence public policy and law?

3. How should people be taxed: in terms of dollar amount, percentage, or capability? Why?

4. Would Jesus want to spend federal income on programs for the poor, healthcare, or military?

5. Was Reagan justified in raising taxes on wealthy Americans multiple times? Why or why not?

6. Should the existence of poverty be a moral concern for first world societies?

7. In what way does homosexual marriage infringe upon your rights, or the rights of anyone else?

8. If society is left with only two options: let uninsured patients who need life-saving surgery die, or pay for their surgeries through taxpayer money, which would you choose?

9. Should tax cuts only be accompanied by equal spending cuts?

10. Ultimately, how do you judge the “success” of a society? Ie, what indicator is the best way to judge the progress of a developed society (possible answers: gdp, happiness of its citizens, freedom, rights)?

-There are real conservative answers to some of these questions, which I wish all conservatives would be willing to admit. There are some (my debate opponent for instance) who know what their positions entail and don’t hide behind contradictory positions. However, the real answers to these questions, that conservatives have to accept if they are to maintain their ideology, are simply not addressed in the political realm/general population to any significant degree. Too often an appeasing talking point is used to garner support, while the majority of those who support the talking point would not accept the necessary entailments of that talking point (it’s easy to hate government intervention in healthcare, yet how many people would be willing to accept the famous Republican debate cheer for “let the patient die”?). I genuinely believe that we would be able to have real social progress if the voting public had to answer questions like the ones above, and form consistent positions based on those answers.