As a lifelong, diehard political moderate, I greatly appreciate the Nov. 26 opinion page. Each of the three commentaries presented a well-stated opinion with a moderate perspective. One was slightly to the right, one was slightly to the left and the third was pretty much straight down the middle. None of them exhibited the type of extremist positions such as we are subjected to on most days. Thank you for the refreshing change. Please do it more often. Jonathan Kraut’s take on the First Amendment was spot-on. Freedom of religion was certainly one of the primary factors that attracted the pilgrims and other early settlers to migrate to this land. Freedom of religion was also central to the founding of the country as evidenced by its prominence in the First Amendment to the Constitution, as Jonathan points out, and in the Declaration of Independence: “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” and “endowed by their Creator.” Our Founding Fathers clearly acknowledged the existence of a Divine Being or Creator. However, they did not allude to a specific God whether Jewish, Christian, Muslim (all of which are the same God) or any other known deity. For the most part they considered themselves to be deists, which is defined as believing in a Divine Creator, but not in that Creator’s ongoing presence in this world. Personally I am a Methodist, but have the greatest respect for the beliefs of others. Lynn Wright’s reflection on the 27th District election results align with my reaction. I agree, Mike Garcia is not unfit for office. For the most part he has seemed to represent our district well. As a Vietnam veteran myself I appreciate his service to our country and his efforts on behalf of all veterans. As Lynn pointed out, the two things that prevented me from voting for Mike Garcia were his enduring devotion to Donald Trump and his position on a woman’s right to choose. Otherwise I may well have voted to return him to Congress. We’ll see how George Whitesides performs over the next two years. If he turns out to be another George Gascón, as has been implied, he can be voted out of office just as easily as he was voted in. Having read previous columns by Christine Flowers, I have had the mistaken impression that she is further to the right than is displayed in the one on the 26th. I’ll admit that I have used the same reference to Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck in the Middle” when corresponding with a group of fellow 1960s Indiana high school classmates who continue a lifelong friendship after 60 years. For the record, I cautioned them that Kamala Harris was not an ideal candidate, just a preferable alternative to Donald Trump. And I strongly urged them to not even consider Gavin Newsom as a candidate should he decide to run in four years. I totally agree with her assessment of the “progressives” on the left and the “Trumpers” on the right. In both cases, it’s time to let it go, come together as best we can, and work together to preserve this magnifient country we have inherited.  It was refreshing to see her acknowledge that the federal investigations into Trump’s activities were justified and that the skepticism of some of his more controversial nominations for his next administration deserve further scrutiny. I fully agree on both counts. The American people are entitled to an honest accountability in both instances. Her closing paragraph is a mirror image of my perspective. Whereas she “couldn’t stand Kamala, but was not in love with Trump,” I could not stand Trump, but was not in love with Kamala. Had the Republicans nominated a moderate like John Kasich or Larry Hogan I would have gladly voted for either one. I’d also like to think that had the Democrats nominated someone like Mark Kelley, Josh Shapiro or Roy Cooper that she would have seriously considered voting for one of them. I have not voted FOR a candidate since 2008 when I voted for John McCain. Since then I have gone with the better of the choices available or in some cases the “lesser of two evils.” It’s time for both parties to put forth quality candidates we can vote FOR. Let’s pray that happens in 2028. For now we just need to put the past eight years and the next four years behind us as quickly and effectively as possible.  Jack Crawford Saugus  The post Jack Crawford | A Moderate’s Perspective appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.