Soap Box

It seems there is less and less common ground in discourse in America anymore as the constantly redrawn battle lines move farther and farther apart, taking with them even the folks on both fringes, severely narrowing the space for what have heretofore been known as “moderates”.

With the advent of the militant left, Maxine Waters et al and Andrew Cuomo’s “America has never been great” comment, the lines change again as even would be liberals cannot countenance the harassing of families having dinner in a public place or the fallacy that the nation that has been the savior of freedom on Planet Earth, has lead the world in technology military power, industrial strength and personal liberty for over two centuries is not and has never been great.

And conversely, such words and actions further inflame the like-minded who want to tear America down and make it into a socialist, big government, tax the rich, anti-business, open borders part of a global community where college and cradle to grave medical care are provided by a monolithic bureaucracy, where police powers would be severely curtailed, most drugs would be legal and there would be no restrictions whatsoever on abortion.

Our president, while making great strides in the economy, restoring the excellence of our military, reducing minority unemployment to an all-time low and getting America well on the way to reclaiming our place of prominence in the world, shoots out late night incendiary tweets with name calling and personal attacks, when sticking to social media as a source for getting out the truth and blunting the effect of fake news, from the point of many of his supporters, would better serve his cause and give his detractors less cannon fodder.

And We the People choose our side and defend every inch of the ground allotted to us praising our heroes and severely criticizing theirs, the media just loves it, fanning every small spark into a raging wildfire if possible, bating one side against the other, using rumor and innuendo and even people known to be dishonest to ignite and nurture.

Due to the intransigence of people like Adam Schiff who never met a television camera he didn’t like and regurgitates the same “Russia Collusion” diatribe every time he gets in front of one, despite his ducking the question of “where is the proof” like a Nolan Ryan fastball continues to encourage and alienate, and the beat goes on.

The exhaustive investigation of Trump and the obvious need for an equally exhaustive investigation of Hillary Clinton and her election staff and organizations foster the justifiable opinion that there is a double standard of justice, which pushes the two sides even farther apart.

So, will we ever be able to have a sensible conversation between the diverse political and social factions?

Can we ever again be able to sit down at the same table and actually work things out?

Well, at least in my humble opinion, the only way that’s going to happen is for both sides to put aside the animosity, the animus, the preconceived, the distrust and forget the old battle scars and try to see some merit in each other’s opinions, and after having examined both sides of the issues in question, approach them with common sense, make a fair and honest assessment and find a point of agreement.

This would require a lot of flexibility and give and take on both sides.

Is that possible, given the lengths things have already gone to and the downright hatred that exists in some quarters on both sides?

I honestly don’t know, but, without trying to sound prophetic, and at the same time seriously hoping I’m wrong, I’ve got a feeling that someday in the future, an event or a series of events will happen that will make us realize how much we need each other and Americans will unite to defeat a common enemy, and maybe then, we’ll start to realize, regardless of our many faults, just how precious and fragile this nation and all it represents is to us.

Until then, it looks like we’ll just keep slugging it out.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, our police and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

— Charlie Daniels

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