By Alan Bean

The folks at New American Media put their heads together and came up with ten questions you didn’t hear at the first two presidential debates and aren’t likely to encounter at debate number three.  Debates are extended pandering sessions in which the candidates compete to see who can appeal most effectively to the enthusiasms, bias and fears of the American middle class.  The candidates’ indebtedness to corporate funding is generally ignored and, as these questions suggest, the plight of the poor is hardly ever mentioned.  Thus far, Governor Romney has made a few references to poverty (usually suggesting that the president’s policies are creating more of it) while Obama has studiously avoided the subject (so he won’t feed the impression that he is indebted to the welfare-addicted 47%).  What questions would you ask the presidential candidates if you got the chance?

Presidential Debate: Top 10 Questions That Weren’t Asked

As Barack Obama and Mitt Romney squared off in the second presidential debate last night, New America Media editors posed 10 questions that have largely gone unasked — and unanswered – in their campaigns.

1. U.S.-Mexico Border
Mitt Romney has pledged to finish the wall on the border with Mexico. What will that mean for U.S. relations with the country that gave his grandfather sanctuary as a polygamist?

2. Drugs
Our prisons are overcrowded with people who were arrested on non-violent drug offenses. Street violence in American inner cities is largely a result of an illegal drug economy. Meanwhile, abuse of prescription drugs is a growing crisis. What would you change about current drug policy to alleviate these problems?  (more…)