Tag: election

Republicrats are scrambling

July 21, 2026

Donald Trump is preparing to accuse every state of rigging the election this year when his party is defeated in Congress and the Senate. His bill would allow him to violate our Constitution and force the court system to, once again, keep him from overstepping the powers that this document gives the president.

He has announced that he will not sign any more of the bills that our legally elected legislators have approved until they give in to his childish temper tantrum. Parents, how much of your time is spent fighting to get your children to listen to you? Is our Chief Executive acting like a spoiled brat?

Let’s look at the problems in our country. Skyrocketing inflation, severe weather, poverty, the breakdown of our families, and the list goes on. These are the things that we want our government to address. The question is how? How do we go about solving these problems?

This bill that President Trump wants passed will solve which of these difficulties? That’s correct, none of them. Its purpose is to give our federal officials more control over elections. According to our Constitution, that right falls to the state governments. We are The United States of America.

We will start with our economic problems. Many people are having trouble paying rent, providing food, and maintaining their homes. Our Missouri state legislature has given us the opportunity in our Amendment Five to eliminate our state income tax and save a lot of the citizens a great deal of money.

The problem is that to accomplish this, all we the people must do is revoke a Constitutional Amendment we passed decades ago that does not allow them to tax us without asking us first. I would like my taxes reduced. I am retired, and my wife is also. Our state taxes on income are practically nonexistent.

This would have been great when we were working, or would it? How much money is left at the end of your month? For us, it was little to none. Another way of putting this is to consider how much must be paid each month when the paycheck is spent. For us, that was often a week or more. If you stop taking my state taxes out of my pay each week and increase the cost of food, fuel, and rent by an equal amount, you have not helped me, the taxpayer.

This bill won’t help me; it will aid elected officials in raising more money from people who can afford to finance their election campaigns. They are the ones who are paying for the ads where a little old lady says that she will have more money for her grandchildren.

Give me a break. Do I look that stupid? Whether it is in the national legislature or our state houses, we need to see a lie when we are told one. Stop the ones who are lying to us by voting them out of office. Here in Missouri, August fourth is our primary election. Do not allow these corrupt individuals to keep their jobs.

Let’s give someone else the chance to represent us, and do not listen to the names that their opponents are being called. I am talking about “woke,” “liberal,” and “Democrat,” here in the seventh district of Missouri.

What names are your incumbents calling others where you live? And what are they trying to get you to believe that is not true? If you look closely, you will see their lies as well.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

Judges versus voters

July 16, 2025

As I sit and listen to the words being delivered at a high school speech and debate tournament, my mind wanders momentarily. I am a judge. My mind should not wander. I am here to listen to what these students have trained long and hard to express. 

Being a high school speech judge is much like being a voter. You must prove your qualifications to have the right to vote, which are similar to the qualifications for determining who is the best speaker.

You must be breathing. Non-breathers will scare both the politicians and the debaters. While many politicians may have been elected by people who are no longer alive, the actual ballot had to be marked by someone alive at that moment. If you don’t breathe, you cannot write, and to mark an election or a speech ballot, legible symbols are needed. The scratches may not resemble words, but they must be discernible by those people or machines whose job it is to determine and announce the decision.

You must be present. At least in body. Your mind and spirit may be elsewhere, but spirits and minds are not recognized by the officials who give you your ballot(s). They identify and count bodies as historians after a battle or skirmish.

You must prove you exist. The accepted method at a speech tournament is to be present. At an election, identification is needed. In Missouri, a photo ID is now required. This does not prove who you are, but allows the election judges to record that a certain person has already voted and will not be allowed to vote again.

You cannot discuss how you vote with others in the polling place. Judges cannot discuss between themselves after speakers and rounds, how they marked their ballots either. Secrecy in both cases can be broken after the event, if they desire to. I have written about speakers and other things I experienced at these tournaments over the years.

 One of my favorite events was extemporaneous speaking. For the non-speakers that are reading this, in this event, you choose a topic fifteen minutes before your time to speak. You have magazines and other resources with you on possible topics. I also kept quotations or poems that could serve as introductions or conclusions.

Today, when I speak in churches or before other groups, I use these techniques. Thinking on my feet and expressing alternative opinions gives me an open mind and helps me make quick decisions. This has served me well in business as a manager, salesman, purchasing agent, and employee.

When you must make decisions, I hope you have these types of abilities, no matter how you learned it. Sports and other types of extracurricular activities can teach many things that are needed for a successful life. Often, we gain these skills by experiencing only when we need them. I’m glad I did not do that.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger