Matt has A Very Important blog post on issues that haven't been well-discussed during the presidential campaign, but are quite important for the next president. He has a good starting list: Deficit reduction, the direction of the Fed, jurisprudence, root causes of terror, and a handful of others. These issues, of course, aren't being talked about because they're politically tricky, and they lack sufficiently powerful constituencies. But that's no reason for us to not mention them. So I'd add:
- Taxation: Do they think our current levels are sufficient? Putting aside political questions, what sort of taxation should America have? Is the current cocktail of payroll, income, and capital gains taxes the right way to do this? Are there alternative systems we might want to try?
- Unipolarity: Do they agree that preserving America's dominant status should be an explicit tenet of American foreign policy? Do they think Paul Woflowitz was right to say "the United States to perpetuate its military supremacy and prevent the emergence of any rival superpower?"
- Prison Culture: Obama has spoken a bit about inequities in the justice system, but, to be honest, the best statements on this have come from Huckabee, who says we lock up a lot of people we're mad at, rather than afraid of. Do they agree with our system of retribution-based justice? Or would they prefer a more rehabilitative approach? And how would they pursue that?
- Military Spending: Do we really need to be spending this much? If so, why? Would a 10 percent shift in resources towards soft power and humanitarian uplift not do more to increase our international prestige and security?
- Health Spending: Seriously, how do we cut it? Tamp down on services? Cut reimbursement rates? Vastly expand individual financial vulnerability? Smart cost sharing? What's your end game to keep our budget from exploding?
I'll add more as I think of them. Suggest your own in comments, and I'll publish the best ones on the front page.
