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As mayor, Bacon will
deliver a vibrant Fremont
The city of Fremont, despite its recent exponential growth, has yet to establish its own character.
Numerous communities in the Bay Area can be proud of their destination city centers. Unfortunately, Fremont has developed into a suburb without a central, vibrant downtown.
Reviving Fremont’s happiness is vital. Please help me elect Vinnie Bacon as our next mayor. He has the training, expertise and drive to transform Fremont into a community we can be happy to call home. He’ll restore the joy we’ve been missing for far too long.
Rene Wise
Fremont
Moderators must keep
Harris, Trump in line
Re: “Harris, Trump agree to debate” (Page A1, Aug. 9).
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are scheduled to debate each other on Sept. 10.
Unless there is instant fact-checking, and callouts when a question is not answered, the event will be a debacle, not a debate.
Karen Lee Cohen
Walnut Creek
Voters offer a check
on U.S. senators
Re: “Biden’s court talk is election-year politicking” (Page A6, Aug. 13).
In his Letter to the Editor, Daniel Mauthe points out that Joe Biden served 36 years in the Senate while Biden has proposed Supreme Court justices only serve 18 years. Daniel then asks “Rules for thee, but not for me?”
Well, yes, there are different rules for each. Per the U.S. Constitution, a senator is elected by voters every six years, while a Supreme Court justice serves for life (or until they retire). Having a choice for your senator every six years gives us a chance to vote out incompetent, corrupt or just plain crazy people. The rules for the Supreme Court do not allow this to happen. So “Rules for thee, but not for me” … true.
If one would like the same rules to apply, perhaps the Supreme Court justices should be elected every six years — not that I agree with that.
Bob Wheeler
Walnut Creek
Justices serve for
life, unlike senators
Re: “Biden’s court talk is election-year politicking” (Page A6, Aug. 13).
Mr. Mauthe missed the point of Joe Biden suggesting term limits for the members of the Supreme Court. Once selected and confirmed they are there for life. They never face an election or even a performance review again.
During Biden’s more than 50 years in politics, mostly in the U.S. Senate, he has had to be reelected every six years. There are limits imposed to his length in office as president and the voters are able to review his performance before reelecting or rejecting him.
Not so with the Supreme Court. Regardless of their performance, they are there until they retire.
Ruth Miller
Alamo
Team could bring
light to Washington
Re: “Harris taps Walz” (Page A1, Aug. 7).
The pernicious effect of “MAGA” has become clear: Instead of becoming Great Again, the relentless drumbeat is on how bad we are: Elections are being stolen, the entire U.S. government is corrupt, and good people are being persecuted. Eventually, we will begin to feel guilty about being Americans.
What we need now is a sunny-side team that is proud of being American.
George Doddington
Walnut Creek
U.S. as a Christian
nation is a bad idea
There is a political move these days to declare the United States a Christian nation and to bring Christian religion into our public schools. I think these are bad ideas.
Why? Though I grew up in the Methodist Church and the Methodist Youth Fellowship was very formative for me, and though my parents, rest their souls, were pillars of that church, and though many of the nation’s founders were Christians (whose sects violently disagreed), declaring the United States a Christian nation goes against our nation’s proud emphasis on freedom and denies the diversity of its current citizens. And to little purpose, there being agreement among most faiths on the important morals, generally derivable from the golden rule.
Schools, churches, synagogues, mosques, etc., are great for providing support, fellowship, the comfort of community and the development of moral living, but the practice of a particular faith should be left to churches.
Wallace Clark
Concord
‘Pro-democracy’ crew
silent on ousting Biden
As a long-term subscriber, I am not surprised at the large volume of anti-Trump, anti-Republican and “pro-democracy” letters. But, I am surprised that the “pro-democracy” supporters have looked the other way regarding the ousting of President Biden.
Irrespective of his performance as commander in chief, the decision to replace Biden was made solely by a few people, not unlike dictatorships we see around the world, and certainly not per the Constitution nor a representative democracy.
Voters may wish to consider this and what it means to their futures, as they vote in the coming election.
Chris Kniel
Orinda