How to Understand Politicians by Asking Stupid Questions
No matter your political leanings, you can probably agree that politicians and pundits say some dumb and dishonest things. Sometimes people reach that conclusion because they don’t want whatever they heard to be true. Let’s try to be better. Let’s try to ask hard questions about what the political class feeds us, especially as elections approach. Elections — the time where salesmanship meets public affairs, after beating reason senseless. Think I’m exaggerating? Maybe I am. Either way, if you want to listen to debates, political ads, and press conferences with a critical mindset you can sharpen your thinking by being armed with some stupid questions.
Why? Well, the (mostly) stupid questions below will help you spot some fundamental errors and misrepresentations in what politicians say. Heck, if you get a chance to ask a question at a town hall or whatever one of these stupid questions may prompt an “interesting” response.
What is a serious problem?
A politician will say this or that is “serious” or a “crisis” without saying what that means. This is almost certainly deliberate. If they could say the crime rate is high, but down for the past three years in a row, well, maybe their tough stance on crime isn’t so valuable. Got it? Anyway, what is crime serious in relation to? History? Other states? Crime reduction targets set by policymakers? Perhaps not. Perhaps calling the problem and serious one is nothing but election hype and the proposed answer is nothing but hucksterism.
What does “work” mean?
Use this one whenever a politician or pundit mentions a social program or policy. They may say Program X works or does not work. What does that mean? If they can’t put it in figures or use some numeric standard, two possibilities occur. They don’t know, or they don’t care. Would you support someone who cannot or will not discuss things that way?
Regardless of your political orientation, you probably should be cheering for policies that produce measurable results.
What does “cause” mean?
According to a very stupid Internet meme that I saw recently, Portland Oregon experienced an epidemic of sexual assaults that led to someone launching some firearms training for women. The year after that program started, rape went down 90%. Never mind that sexual assault is a broader category than rape. What does it matter that some women got firearms training and carried guns? Was the rate of sexual assault trending downward already? Did it spike in the year before the program and return to typical levels before that training program? Has the population been shrinking?
What is socialism?
You should be able to define this in your own words before graduating high school. If a politician babbles incoherently about communism and CRT and crushing regulations on business, they don’t know what it means and quite possibly do not care. To them, words and concepts, and numbers are things you manipulate to get a certain group of voters behind you. Joe Conservative can promise to save us from creeping socialism without actually saying what “creeping socialism” is? In actual fact (look up socialism on Wikipedia) and you will find this: If government ownership of land, intellectual property, mineral rights, and so on has been expanding, then you could call that “creeping socialism” because socialist policies tend to increase government ownership of the economy, not regulation or taxation.
What is capitalism?
This is basically the same problem. Ask a dishonest politician to define the term and they will talk about market forces and free enterprise and how regulation and crushing taxation are crushing the spirit of free enterprise in America. Other politicians will make other claims without saying what it means. A respectable politician would say something about market forces and voluntary exchanges of goods or money. Whether the politician honestly doesn’t know or doesn’t care to answer, there is a problem.
What is climate change?
A fraud and a shill will change the subject or opine that the climate has always been changing. And did you know that weather and climate are the same? They are not the same thing. Nor will climate change exterminate humanity or destroy the planet or whatever. Wild rhetoric clouds rational thought and discussion. Resist it. Complain when candidates use hyperbolic language. This is not just a comment on climate change.
What are open borders?
An honest politician will admit that maybe some reforms are needed either with border protection or immigration policy or both. If people sneak across the border, is it really open? If lots of people are arrested just after crossing the border, have they really snuck into the country? No and no. Again, if politicians let you think about those questions, you might question their mental competence or honesty, or both. If they give you breathing room, so you can think about their ideas, you might spot serious weaknesses like how their immigration reform will cost lots of money and accomplish little.
Do you need a Gish gallop to make your point?
Are Democrats soft on crime? A dishonest politician will rattle off a string of numbers, maybe a brief anecdote about Sara who got raped by three illegals. This rapid-fire presentation of arguments, claims, anecdotes, or figures is known as a Gish Gallop after the late Duane Gish of the Discovery Institute. He used the trick to attack evolutionary theory and defend his Institute’s brand of creationism.
So, whenever approaching a politician’s speech, a debate, a policy statement, or a segment containing political commentary, consider a few of these “stupid” questions. Use your best judgment to decide which questions make sense. Then decide whether the politician answered them or even acknowledged them.
Did I leave anything out? Do you have any “stupid” questions you’d like to suggest? Leave a comment!
