Shame On America Sunday: Presidental Election Quiz

Shame on America Sunday is appearing on Saturday because Sunday is Sweetie's Birthday and I promised her no 'puting on her birthday.

Another change: In lieu of my usual rants about how wealthy America is and how people should be ashamed for letting rich people hoard money while poor people have to hire lawyers to make sure they can get medical care, I am this week presenting something that should either (a) keep you from being ashamed, or (b) make you ashamed.

The thing I am presenting is the
Shame On America Sunday Presidential Candidates' Policies Quiz.

You should take this quiz to make sure that you are informed enough to vote; if you're not informed you should not vote (and you should be ashamed for not being informed and not voting) -- but taking this quiz will make sure you are informed enough to vote.

So here we go; I've left out third party candidates and focused on the two that have a chance to win, Barack Obama and John McCain. The answer to each question is either "Barack Obama" or "John McCain."

Give your answer each question; I've got the correct answers at the end. Then, based on the answers, you'll know the candidates' positions and can decide which candidate you should vote for:

Ready? Let's begin -- it's only 12 questions...

1. This candidate wants to give families a tax credit of $500 per person, up to $1,000 per family, to reduce the tax burden by up to $1000 per family.

2. This candidate favors eliminating capital gains taxes on start-up businesses and small businesses.

3. This candidate wants to let bankruptcy courts modify mortgages if necessary to allow people filing bankruptcy to retain their homes while still repaying their mortgages.

4. This candidate as a sitting senator introduced the "Patriot Employer Act of 2007" to provide tax incentives to corporations which kept workers in the US or which increased the number of US-based employees in their company and maintained a corporate headquarters in the US.

5. This candidate supports a get-tough stance against Iran, telling that country to either abandon its nuclear program and stop supporting terrorism, or face additional economic pressure and political isolation.

6. This candidate promises to require that health insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions.

7. This candidate promises to help make small businesses able to afford to provide health insurance to their employees.

8. This candidate promises to make health insurance more affordable by giving a tax credit for health insurance premiums.

9. This candidate promises to upgrade America's infrastructure -- highways, electrical grid, and the like -- to help protect Americans against terrorists and natural disasters.

10. This candidate promises to reduce taxes on middle class families by approximately $1000 per family.

11. This candidate's tax plan, according to the IRS, would result in a tax savings of $2,100 for a single parent making $40,000 per year with two children in childcare.

12. This candidate opposes giving tax breaks to oil companies.

All done? Let's tally up the answers:

1. Obama.
2. Obama.
3. Obama.
4. Obama.
5. Obama.
6. Obama.
7. Obama.
8. Obama.
9. Obama.
10. Obama.
11. Obama.
12. Obama.

Well, what do you know? Imagine that. Here's what I've got to say, now:


America, you are going to vote in one of the most important elections that has ever faced our country. We are at a crossroads. For 8 years, individual rights have been violated and the Constitution has been subverted. For 8 years, a lack of meaningful regulations and oversights has allowed investors to run amuck and damaged the housing market and our economy. For 8 years, the United States of America -- the greatest and proudest country in the history of the world-- has been damaging its reputation abroad and endangering our citizens by instituting a policy of aggressive warfare against countries that did not threaten our national interest.

One candidate will continue this deterioration of our country.

One candidate promises to end it and restore our position in the world and restore our country to greatness.

We cannot continue to let America be a country where the poor must pray that God heals them because they cannot pay for medical care, where people lose their savings and their homes because banks took unfair advantage of their dreams, where we torture and imprison people without a trial, where our young men and women are sent to be shot and die in a war that had no reason to begin and no reason not to end, where our government spies on its own citizens and ignores the rules the people place on it, where the rich fly in private jets to their third or fourth or fifth home while the middle class and the poor work a second job to pay for child care.

Vote to change that. Vote to restore America. Vote for Hope.

Vote for Barack Obama.