Big Big Question

For some unknown, magical reason, you will be able to have one hour of alone time with President Elect Obama.

What conversation would you have with him? What would you ask for? What would be the most important thing that you’d want to convey to him?

Well?

Even though we all know that the world is not going to end when CERN fires up the Large Hadron Collider on 9/10/08 at 700 GMT, what are your plans for your time between now and then? Is there anything you feel like you need to do before the world ends science begins?

(For the record, I read that they’ll just be accelerating some particles on 9/10- actual collisions will begin in the following weeks.)

For those of you voting for John McCain, what are your reasons for voting for him? How do you feel about Palin, and are you affected by the news stories about her experience and affiliations?

Because you oughta, by god. Mefi’s own Brandon Blatcher has rolled this thing up from scratch as place for folks to just have at mefi-style political discussion free from the generalist-driven constraints of the mefi front page.

In other words, PoliticalFilter : Mefisphere poli discussion :: Big Big Question : Mefisphere hypothetical chatfilter. I know SAT-style analogies get you excited, so go check it out already.

This message is an unpaid advertisement from The Committee to Promote Interesting New Spinoff Sites. I’m Josh Millard, and I couldn’t really think of a question this morning.

Election-as-human-nature-barometer: Imagine a two-party system where, during the primaries, you had to vote for the party that you were NOT a registered member of. So, if you’re a republican, you get to pick the democratic candidate.

Assume that people are actually registered in the party that most closely aligns with their values. Now, would this cross-party system improve the whole affair (individuals would realize that they’re choosing the “enemy’s team,” would pick the person that they truly think would be the better choice), or would it make things worse (individuals would pick the person most likely to lose the election for the other side)?

If you are aghast at or strongly dislike our current President, what fictional undisclosed set of facts would it take for you to completely and utterly reverse your stance on George W. Bush’s actions during his Presidency?

I was reading a rather scary Radar article and came across “Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 (also known as NSPD-51), issued in May 2007, which reserves for the executive branch the sole authority to decide what constitutes a national emergency and to determine when the emergency is over” — and the fact that Congress’ own freakin’ Homeland Security Committee was denied a review of the Continuity of Government classified annexes.

And it made me think … what sort of reasoning could possibly justify that behavior from the Bush Administration?

And in reply, my fertile brain popped back: what if Congress had been infiltrated by terrorists?

Now, obviously, I think that’s highly unlikely if not impossible, and pretty much downright silly. A moment borne of action movies and thrillers.

But it got me thinking along those lines. What conspiracies, theories, unknown facts, etc. would have to be revealed in order for you to go from Dubya being the worst, most crooked, most insane President in U.S. history to him being Lincoln, Roosevelt, Washington, etc., the savior of the nation?

Do you vote in local or national elections? If so, why? If not, why not?

How much responsibility does the average citizen have to remain aware of an ongoing political process?

Does it depend on the process?  On the location?  On the scope — municipal, county, province, federal?

Hat tip to dbl.

What are the criteria you would set if you were the only one to decide who was allowed to emigrate from their country and immigrate to yours?

Would you allow refugees, what type (political/economic/cultural), and what proof would they have to provide of their need? Would you set a net worth limit, so that anyone bringing a certain amount of money was guaranteed entry? Would you set an education limit so that only people with a certain level of proven intelligence were allowed in (perhaps barring refugees)?

Ron Paul is (along with several other candidates) not a front-runner in the US Presidential primaries. But everybody loves an underdog, so here’s the question:

What sort of plausible (however unlikely, however chancy or fortuitous) scenarios could put a truly marginal candidate into the White House? What could the months-long run-up to a Paul win look like?

Here’s a big Saturday morning topic:

Say you want to start your own country.  How?  When?  Where?  And, needless to say, we’re going to need a good name.
(Inspired by this excellent old AskMe question.)

Here’s a premise: somehow, some organization manages to subvert the voting machines used in the US Presidential general election in November, 2008. The vote is not just fixed, it is broken — some viable candidate is handed an implausible 99% vote, or Snoopy is elected by write-in vote; something so audacious that it’s clear that the folks involved had no intention of fooling anyone.

So, it’s Wednesday morning, November 5th, and tens of millions of votes have just been mooted and the voting systems discredited. What now? What happens?

(Inspired by this deleted Ask Metafilter question; hat tip to brina.)