Birds on the Brain

What do the candidates think about the wave of vote suppression in the states? Immigration policy? Employment discrimination? Not only have these questions not been asked, it’s hard to imagine them being asked. And perhaps the biggest dog that hasn’t barked is LBGT rights. In in a sense, this is a sign of social progress—even five years ago, the idea that a president could come out in favor of same-sex marriage and have it be almost entirely ignored during the subsequent election campaign would have seemed ludicrously implausible. Nonetheless, this progress certainly does not reflect a bipartisan consensus, and voters should be allowed to examine the positions of the candidates. How can Romney and Ryan justify their opposition to the repeal of DADT? Should the Defense of Marriage Act be considered constitutional? Are bans on same-sex marriage consistent with the Constitution’s mandate that states provide equal protection of the laws? These are important questions that haven’t received a second of consideration during one of the few times in which large numbers of Americans focus on political questions. There is still one remaining presidential debate that will focus on domestic policy. We can hope the town hall format will at least allow more questions that don’t focus on a narrow set of economic issues only interesting to political pundits. So far, the professional questioners haven’t done a good job in bringing up anything but insider baseball lines of inquiry for debate.