Issues

When it comes to my overall view of candidate issues I would like to refer to one of my personal heroes, Jack Spirko. He has laid out, in very simple terms, the healthiest opinion on political issues I have ever heard. He has 10 questions he asks about any issue, and based on the answers to those questions he decides whether to back it, oppose it, or do nothing.

These are the questions:

  • Will it effect me? (me meaning us, the average American)
  • Does it increase or decrease the power of government?
  • Is it Constitutional?
  • Does it make people that agree on 95% of issues fight amongst themselves?
  • What is it going to cost us? What is our ROI (return on investment) on it?
  • Who is paying for it?  Who benefits the most financially?
  • Is my personal prejudice or bias influencing my judgment on this?
  • What happens if we take this action?
  • What happens if we don’t do anything?
  • Does it set up the future potential for government intrusion in more areas?
  • Do I really need to be “for” or “against” this issue?
  • If we only focused on issues that “passed the test” what would be left?
  • How would that effect the ability of our government to mislead us?
  • If everyone did this, would we know “what we believe” and “why we believe it”?


Spirko has a Podcast where he goes into depth and explains it. Click here to visit his website.

For fun, check out The World's Smallest Political Quiz.