Commonsense and Reason

 By Fred Bates - August 2024 Democrats' hypocrisy has no bounds when it comes to their defense of democracy Donald Trump was accused by Democrats of election interference for making a phone call to President Zelensky in July 2019, during which, Trump was accused of pressuring Zelensky to dig up dirt on his political rival, Democrat Joe Biden. At that time, Biden hadn't declared himself a candidate for president. Trump was impeached by the Democrat led House of Representatives in December 2019, even though, the constitutional requirement for impeachment of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors was not met. Undeterred by the failure of the first impeachment, Trump was impeached a second time for his actions following the 2020 presidential election. Trump made claims that the election was stolen from him because of fraud. On January 6, 2021, the day of the certification of the election of Joe Biden as President, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in protest. De...

 June 13, 2024 Polarization does not mean we have to be adversaries It keeps coming up in our national debates on almost all issues how polarized we are as a nation. I really don't understand when politicians, media personalities, and others complain how much we are polarized because we see issues differently. We are a nation of individuals with individual liberties that are protected by the Constitution. At the forefront of these liberties is the right to freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. Implicit in the right to free speech and press is the right of each person to have their own opinions. I'm troubled by politicians and people of influence that intentionally sows seeds of discord between groups of citizens with divisive rhetoric for political reasons.   Despite the efforts of those that try to deliberately keep Americans divided with inflammatory rhetoric, I am not influenced by their efforts. I make my own decisions on what side of the issues I will take. An...

June 13, 2024 The problem with voting is not voter suppression. I have not seen or heard of a single case where a person of any color that was qualified to vote was prevented from registering to vote; or a single person of any color that was already registered to vote was prevented from voting in this country. The problem that threatens democracy is not the suppression of blacks and other minorities right to vote. The bigger threat is that voters of all colors may lose interest in voting because many of our elections are contested on uneven playing fields.  Having commonsense laws in order to protect the integrity of elections not only is not voter suppression, but it makes the votes of individual citizens more meaningful and sacred. Commonsense laws requiring voters to register in a reasonable time period and to have valid identification are necessary to protect the electoral process. These requirements do not in any way impose an unreasonable burden on individuals wanting to regi...

 March 19, 2024 - by Fred Bates The presumption of innocence until proven guilty and the constitutional due process right to a fair trial should be extended to all, even undocumented immigrants.   Just as with all murders, I am saddened and outraged by the murder of Laken Riley. I don't see one murder as being worse than another murder. The victims lose their lives, the most precious thing we have. The victims' families and loved ones are devasted. When tragedies like Riley's murder, as well as, other murders are politicized and exploited by politicians and the media, I find it disturbing. It is further evidence of the deterioration of our American values system. I find it shocking that so many politicians and media personalities, mostly Republicans and conservatives, are so quick to state without equivocation that Jose Antonio Ibarra the suspect in Riley's murder, an alleged undocumented immigrant, is guilty of her murder.  Did I miss something? I am not aware that Iba...

Post #10 - February 28, 2021 In a post on January 15, 2020, I addressed the first impeachment of Donald Trump. Just as I disagree with the first impeachment, I disagree with the second impeachment of Trump. The second impeachment lacked less credibility than the first impeachment, if that's possible. Not only was the second impeachment constitutionally infirm, it defied commonsense and logic. It was just another example of how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats' hatred for Trump drove them to do something that made no sense at all. What is so shocking is that Democrats clearly went beyond what the Constitution and the founding fathers intended for impeaching a president. Impeachment is the process by which Congress can remove a sitting president from office for committing treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. It's needless to say Trump was already out of office. But that was not good enough. Democrats wanted more. So they came up with the lame notio...

  Post #10 - Saturday November 1, 2020 Trump or Biden?  The presidential election is two days away and I feel compelled to give my opinion about who I think is the better candidate based on their policies and character. When choosing a candidate in an election, I think most people look at what the candidates have done in the past and at what they say they are going to do after they get elected. Ideally, you would then make a decision based on who you think is better. When I started this blog on January 15th of this year (2020), I stated that I would address current hot button issues that have left this nation deeply polarized. I stated in my introductory post that I would address issues in an honest and objective way. The issue as to whether Trump or Biden would be better for this country is a controversial issue. This post is not meant to be a political statement or an endorsement. I respect the right of every citizen to vote for the candidate of their choice. I will not cond...