"Oh hey, you are a profound and wise person," they say. "What question would you ask a potential politician?"
I am unprepared for the request and ask for a moment to consider a response, after thanking them for the lovely compliment.
What questions would I ask a potential politician? I reflect on the things I see in the world, the injustice, which is to say, the lack of care and consideration for others, and imagine the 'potential politician' in front of me.
"I would want to know how they intend to address the social inequalities that lead to the rise of homelessness in the city, and what their plans are for supporting affordable housing and better analysis of the many contributing factors to homelessness."
"Shocked," my friend says with a smile, "absolutely shocked you would ask a question like that."
"I'd also ask about their stance on the rise of fascism and letting hate groups organise and spread malicious documents in the name of 'free speech'." I'm fully aware that this is a righteous Canadian question to ask anyone running for office in the States, but I stand by it and carry on. "I would probably bluntly ask them if they are interested in being a politician or a public servant—defining a 'politician' as someone who does everything to keep getting elected, and a public servant as someone who works to serve the public good. And are they pro-choice, behind the Black Lives Matter movement, and supportive of radical Marxist feminism?" This last sentence I say with a cheeky smile, but also, quite seriously.
"Educate! Agitate! Organize!"
"Indeed! And also, what is their view on the rights of transfolk, sex workers, undocumented immigrants, and disabled folks? Easy stuff, really. Nothing hard hitting or profound. Just: Do you care about human beings regardless of embodiment and income and will you, as a public representative, do your duty to represent all of them without bias or discrimination, aiming to elevate humanity and bend the arch of history towards justice?"
"I like your brain."
This makes me laugh again, heartily, because it's not my brain doing the asking, but my heart.