Category: Common Sense

The Impeachment Vaccine for the Republic

Posted on by Ladmann

The Impeachment Vaccine for the Republic

To any Republican Senators who may see this message. I have watched the impeachment trial of Mr. Trump. The entire trial.

I am a life-long Republican/Libertarian. Above all, I am an American.

Political parties and activities are important part of governing our Republic. However, Party power should never supersede the support and protection of the Republic. There has always been and will always be political and philosophical differences of opinion. There will always be winners and losers. That is the nature of politics. And you know this.

Aside from political party philosophy and power in Congress, Mr. Trumps consistent behavior is unacceptable and impeachable.

You need to vote to convict Mr. Trump and bar him from any future office.

This is not a Republican or Democratic issue.  

This is a Republic issue.

Common Sense

Posted on by Ladmann

Common Sense

This website is based on the premise that using common sense, enables a person to perceive the difference between facts and truth and falsehoods.

However, “a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of right…”  Apparently “time makes more converts than reason”. 1

No society can police everything all the time, least of all a democratic society. A healthy society rests on a consensus about what is a deviation and what is normal… Society renews itself as common sense evolves. This requires trustworthy, transparent, respectful institutions of social discourse, especially when we disagree… Social media is not a public square but a private one governed by machine operations and their economic imperatives, incapable of, and uninterested in, distinguishing truth from lies or renewal from destruction. 2

“The ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas… The best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market.” 3

My concern is whether my belief in common sense is already outdated and too late, and do we have enough time to save common sense and our democracy.

 

 

  1. “Common Sense”; Thomas Paine, 1776; Prometheus Books 1995.
  2. “The Coup We Are Not Talking About”, Shoshana Zuboff, [A version of this article appears in print on  31, 2021, Section SR, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: The Knowledge Coup.]
  3. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes’s 1919 dissenting opinion in Abrams v. United States

True False Information

Posted on by Ladmann

We have long known that we make decisions based on emotion versus facts.

It is difficult to convince someone that the “facts” of the situation should rule our decisions and actions under “normal” circumstances. With the worldwide onslaught of emotionally biased statements, we are challenged as to what to believe.

As was stated recently by the Chinese Media “…It is necessary to strengthen screening and identify what is true false information …”1

We have all become too accustomed to believing what we want, to support our own conclusions, regardless of the basis of that conclusion.

  • How about we get off the roller coaster of emotional exchange and reset our preconceived perceptions?
  • How about starting with the use of “timeout” before responding to and attacking the other person and/or message?
  • How about showing others the same degree of respect we wish others to show us?
  • How about after some thought, we use some common sense?

 

 

  1. “Twitter blocked the account of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, Hua Chunying : I hope that Twitter will no double-label”; World.huanqui.com: 1/21/2021; Global Times-Global Network Reporter Bai Yunyi.