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When did it become acceptable for candidates for public office to refuse to answer questions? Or, as is more common, to answer without responding?

When did we become so complacent that the people who want to represent us feel free to stone-wall and obfuscate their views on vital matters of public policy, their values and philosophy?

When did having well-thought-out views on difficult issues stop being the primary qualification for holding public office, replaced, by all the evidence, by the ability to talk without communicating anything?

When did public officials seize the right to make vital decisions about public affairs in private without explaining themselves to anyone?

It seems to be the rule rather than the exceptions that major candidates blow off questionnaires from public interest groups like Project Vote-Smart. That’s just a shame. I’ve frankly had enough of that non-sense. I’m just one guy with a blog, but I’m fortunate that a fairly large number of people who together can exert a lot more influence than me actually take the time to read what I have to say. What I’m saying now is that I’ve had enough.

I want some answers. Two hundred of them to be exact.

With your help, I seek to craft 20 pointed, well-framed questions on each of 10 topics. These questions will be asked of the candidates in CD 8, incrementally, 20 at a time, until the project dies a well-deserved death because nobody can be arsed to participate and make this experiment work, or until all 200 questions have been fully and responsively answered by the candidates over the course of the campaign.

I don’t think that I am the only one who can frame a good question. Nor are good questions limited to a particular political viewpoint; just the opposite, in fact. So I am asking for everyone’s help in creating the questions, too. That includes my bloggity pals on the red end of the spectrum.

Whether we’ll get any answers is pretty much up to you. If you want answers as much as I do, and you make just the slightest effort to ensure that adequate answers are given, then I’m confident that answers are what we’ll get. I am more than willing to share those answers with anyone and everyone in the media willing to listen. I don’t want a scoop, or exclusivity, or credit; I just want the answers.

I have created a wiki for collaborative work on this project. Anyone can read and comment on the pages. If you want to actually edit the wiki, you need to be added to the group by me. To be added, send me an email expressing your interest and listing any group or groups you are associated with that may be interested in co-sponsoring the questions.

Read more about the 200Q project and the 10 topics after the click…