The Sixty-four Dollar Question

It's time to think. And I'm going to help. I have a bunch of questions for you. Even if you don't print them out, remember your answers. Before you answer them, read all of the choices and justify why you agree with them or disagree. You may feel that multiple answers are appropriate for some of the questions, so mark whatever you believe. The marking key comes after the questions, and will be explained then. Please don't cheat and look at it before answering since it may affect your responses. Work with me.

1. The NASA space exploration budget should be
   a. whatever they need to discover the secrets of the Universe.
   b. increased so we can explore our own solar system.
   c. increased at the same rate as Social Security.
   d. limited to whatever is necessary to protect us from other nations.
   e. eliminated.

2. Marriage should
   a. be a religious sacrament with no governmental rules.
   b. be between one man and one woman.
   c. be between two committed people irrespective of their sexes.
   d. involve as large a group as wish it.
   e. be eliminated. It's an outdated concept.

 

3. Darwin's theory
   a. isn't a “theory,” it's a fact.
   b. should be a required subject in every school.
   c. has internal errors and contradictions.
   d. should be taught alongside Creationism.
   e. is an erroneous and harmful fraud.

4. Political officials
   a. have accepted a lower salary in order to perform a public service.
   b. seek benefits not known to the public at large.
   c. view local offices as stepping stones to national ones.
   d. are often untrained for the job they have assumed.
   e. are crooks.

5. The National Debt
   a. is unconscionable and should be eliminated.
   b. can be stabilized if we have a balanced budget.
   c. will be a burden for our grandchildren.
   d. is appropriate and our grandchildren will find a way to deal with it.
   e. is necessary if we are to redistribute resources from the super-rich to the needy.

6. College education
   a. and its associated increased income is a right of all Americans and should be obligatory.
   b. is an option that should be available to all who want it irrespective of background if America is to keep up with the rest of the world.
   c. should be limited to the qualified but supported by the government.
   d. is a dalliance of the rich.
   e. should be eliminated in its present form and replaced by training in useful skills.

7. “Right” and “wrong”
   a. are absolutes that apply to everyone.
   b. are relative concepts that are properly determined by individual societies.
   c. are tools of the rich to establish dominance over the poor.
   d. are suggested guidelines rather than instructions.
   e. are nonsense. You're on your own and you only go around once.

8. Entitlements
   a. are guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
   b. should be paid for out of taxpayers' money even though this may be viewed as income redistribution.
   c. will be most effective if they are international, and they should be managed by the United Nations.
   d. should be decided upon by the people, not politicians.
   e. should be eliminated. No one is “entitled” to what he does not earn.

9. Wagner's music
   a. is uplifting and magnificent.
   b. forms the basis for modern music, like what we have today.
   c. is good, but not great like the work of Bach and Mozart.
   d. is unsettling and it lasts too long.
   e. is anti-Semitic and should be banned.

10. Free speech
    a. has no limits.
    b. should be limited only if its use could lead to physical danger to others.
    c. must not be hateful nor insulting. Some censorship is necessary.
    d. differs from nation to nation. American standards are not generalizable.
    e. does not permit one to make another feel threatened or uncomfortable.

“The sixty-four dollar question” is not a term that is heard very much anymore, having been replaced by “the sixty-four thousand dollar question.” The term originate on a radio quiz show (“Take it or Leave It”) during the 1940s and reflected a reasonable payout for the times and for the medium. Sixty-four dollars in 1940, when the show started, would be worth a little more than $1073 in 2015.

But with a change in medium (radio to TV) and the public desire for excitement, ”The $64,000 Question” was born. (There were also numerous parodies of the program, including 'Bob and Ray's “The 64-Cent Question.”) That's the term used nowadays. And it's understood to designate a very difficult question – usually an issue rather than an actual question.

What I've given you, however, are actual questions, and you'll probably want to know how you did. So here's the way to determine your results:

                              For each question you answered “a,” - 5 points

                                For each question you answered “b,” - 4 points

                                For each question you answered “c,” - 3 points

                                For each question you answered “d,” - 2 points

                                For each question you answered “e,” - 1 point

If you didn't answer the question you have scored 0 points. If you have given multiple answers to any question, add up all the scores, removing the highest and lowest of them.

Add the results.

Multiply by the score for not answering a question.

Add 100.

That is your final score (assuming you're not arithmetically challenged). 100% Congratulations!

The quiz, as you may already have noted, is one of opinions, and yours are just as good as anyone else's (except mine). For you, then, it's a perfect score. There are no “right” or “wrong” answers – only opinions.

But the purpose of the quiz was the asking, not the answering of the questions. The intent was to give you the opportunity to think about some of the issues that have been bothering me. I thought I'd drag you down too. Misery loves company. There are many more problems troubling our society, and the ones I've selected tell you a little about my thought processes but, as I noted above, the goal is for you to consider these topics – to decide what you think about them but, more important, to try to figure out why you feel as you do. Insight is the real reward.

And since your questions are probably different from mine, you may want to consider them. You've probably got anwers already, but give some thought to other possibilities and examine why they are or are not satisfactory. Perhaps you'll change your mind; perhaps you won't. But you'll understand the problem better.

And once again, Congratulations!

Next episode: “All Men Are Created Equal” -- And if you believe that I have a bridge to sell you.