mngop-logoI just took part in a mercifully brief opinion poll by telephone that turned out to be a survey for the Republican Party of Minnesota. With the promise of only four questions that would take only 15 seconds, it was hard to say no.

The four questions, near as I remember them:

1. During an economic downturn, do you support raising taxes, cutting spending, or raising taxes and cutting spending?

2. Do you support domestic drilling for oil? Yes or no?

3. Are you pro-life or pro-choice?

4. Are you a Democrat or a Republican?

Having recently refused another phone survey that sounded as if it might take too long, I shouldn’t quibble with the MNGOP’s refreshingly slam-bang approach. But I did feel shoe-horned by the second question, since “no” would mean I oppose every oil derrick in America, and I don’t. (A friend of mine who’s unemployed is making ends meet with monthly checks from newly tapped oil on the family farm back in Pennsylvania.) So I protested, and when the pollster offered “undecided,” I took it.