To: News sources (whether print, TV, radio or Internet), Reporters, journalists, analysts and editors
We expect news media to inquire into candidates' core beliefs.
We the people expect our news media to fully research and report on the core beliefs of candidates for office as they bear on their performance of the responsibilities of such offices. The legitimate areas for such inquiry include beliefs on science and religion, on candidates' understanding of the boundaries between the two, and on the consequences of policy informed (or misinformed) by erroneous information.
Why is this important?
It is truly scary what we have recently learned about sitting US congressmen's beliefs about matters of science -- things that GOP House Science Committee congressmen Paul Broun (GA) and Todd Akin (MO) (and others) believe that are at odds with uncontroversial tenets of science, like the age of the earth (billions of years old, not 9000), or that a woman's body cannot defend itself against pregnancy caused by rape. While (as much as we might like to) we can't impose an IQ test on candidates for office, or make scientifically valid beliefs a condition of serving in Congress, we need to know about core beliefs of would-be candidates for national offices -- whether they are rational, or bordering on insane. While we cannot legislate the availability of such information, we should be able to expect that reporters and journalists will ferret out such information in their normal pursuit of profitable news and in pursuit of recognition for journalistic excellence.