Soap Box

I didn't watch the Women's March on Washington, but have seen film clips from it, and while I'm sure that - as is their habit - the media chose the most incendiary excerpts for rebroadcast and that there was plenty of sensible dialogue from more sensible people - who the media powers that be didn't deem sensational enough to make the cut - the ravings of Ashley Judd and Madonna's remark that she often thought about blowing up the White House will represent the crux of the event to most Americans.

In my opinion, rather than making the American public sympathetic to any of the issues they were trying to emphasize, the spirit of the march - as portrayed on television - only served to push the factions farther apart.

The 24-hour news cycle and media's insatiable appetite to make certain people look good and others to look bad has created an atmosphere of enmity between folks of different political and social persuasions, not to mention the rampant distrust.

There is a growing attitude of "everything we believe is right and everything you believe is wrong" and even when there is equity on both sides of an issue the animosity has gotten so pervasive that opposing views are rarely even considered by the other side.

The common phrase is that, "America is divided" but I beg to differ, America is actually fragmented into pieces racially, socially, politically, philosophically, fiscally and every group that tries to put on a united face is actually made up of dissidents with their own personal ax to grind, ranging from the moderates to the radicals, from those who actually believe in the cause they are espousing to those just along for the ride, the window breakers and car burners.

And guess who gets most of the publicity.

What most of today�s major movements are made up of are factions within factions, a rubrics cube of different convictions almost impossible to align.

The civil rights contingent - once united behind the sensible and workable teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King - now stretches between the moderate voice of Ben Carson and Al Sharpton whose purpose is served by actually keeping the races separated, from racial leaders with an emphasis on education and self-reliance to the "space to destroy" carelessness of Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings.

America's political parties are fragmented; I don't think anybody would deny that. There's the conservatives, the liberals, the moderates, the socialists, and Nancy Pelosi who is in a class by herself.

In my opinion, Barack Obama came to office with the intention of fundamentally changing America from the bedrock to the pinnacle. He seemed to be a man on a mission as he warned America that if Obamacare wasn't passed immediately the consequences would be catastrophic.

Obamacare turned out to be one of the most divisive issues in a controversy plagued administration, passed without even one Republican vote, presidential lies, broken promises
and trickle down misery that saw some of Obamacare's most ardent supporters losing their coverage.

Obama's attitude toward immigration, his refusal to listen to his generals when it came to Iraq, his sitting back and watching ISIS grow from an idea to a formidable fighting force, his soft spot for anything dealing with Islam, his Justice Department which selectively enforced the law, his hostility toward Israel and a plethora of other issues, put him at odds, at one time or another, with almost every segment of the population except his large and blindly devoted group of followers who rabidly, and many times, insultingly defended his every move, further expanding the chasm.

This created a sense of unrest across the nation pitting those of diverse opinions against each other, those of a more socialistic persuasion bent against those of a more fiscally conservative persuasion. Those who want the government to take over every facet of their lives from cradle to grave against those who just want the government to protect the nation, pave the interstates and stay out of their lives and every opinion in between.

When Obama declared that "America is no longer a Christian Nation" the secular community cheered while the Christian community took offense at what was obviously another one of Obama's concessions to his Islamic soft spot.

His obvious tacit disrespect for police manifested itself in his remarks about "the police acted stupidly" and his support for Black Lives Matter.

So here we are, coming out of the administration of a president who wanted to change the meaning of the American Dream to include an all-inclusive, all intrusive, all powerful government
vulnerable to the whims of the United Nations and believing that humane dialogue instead of decisive action, even with the worst of the worst could solve catastrophic problems.

And into the administration of a president who, although never short on words is a proven man of action whose idea of the American dream precludes a monolithic government, envisions a revitalized military, believes that the laws already on America's books should be enforced and that the long accepted American trade deficits should be renegotiated, that unfair trade treaties should be renounced.

He has a healthy respect for the law and the genesis of his immigration program is to rid the country of violent gangs, drug lords and criminals of all stripes who are here illegally.

He has broken the long-standing policy of government's paying ten times what a product is worth just because it�s the government.

He has nominated a cabinet of energetic operatives to help him reach his objectives.

And yes, he has ruffled a lot of feathers.

The divide has grown wider and the factions more numerous.

In the next couple of years, we will begin to see the fruits of the Trump era.

And if it works, if America begins to see its jobs and its prosperity come back.

If America sees its prestige and respect on the world stage return.

If America sees violence on our streets decrease because of the deportation of criminals, a newfound respect for law enforcement.

If America sees our roads being paved, our airports, bridges and tunnels being rebuilt.

If America sees progress being made, we can find something we desperately need.

Common ground.

Reasons to believe.

Reasons to get along.

What do you think?

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

God Bless America

� Charlie Daniels

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