In the early stages of the Second World War, Hitler, intent on totally exterminating the Jews came up with a plan the Nazis codenamed the Final Solution.

John Steinbeck’s classic novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” depicts the plight of a people who were deceived and exploited, used to create an atmosphere favoring the rich and powerful and a credible analogy can be drawn between those times and a situation that exists today.

I love words. Fashioning words into sentences, phrases and lyrics has been a major part of my professional life for over six decades, and I take great joy in telling a story in song or prose and spend many hours pursuing the many word-generated projects that my God-given talent leads me into.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a timely rewind from 2017. - TeamCDB

One has only to do a little research to see the ravages of socialism. The latest notable example being Venezuela, and if you’ve paid any attention to the news the last couple of years, you’ve watched an oil-rich nation slide into an abyss of deprivation and near starvation.

The degree that the Schumer and Pelosi lead Democrats will go to prevent Donald Trump from having the promised wall is truly disgusting and appalling.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2017 which is still fairly relevant. - TeamCDB

Sen. Schumer, I don't live in your constituency but in the larger picture, you live in mine and every other legal, taxpaying American citizen who is affected by the power you hold in your political party, your blind allegiance to it and the obstructionist posture to anything that doesn't directly benefit it.

“And that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

We are all familiar with this excerpt from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, powerful words that sum up the proper governing philosophy for America in one simple phrase.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2014. - TeamCDB/BW

I have made one New Year's resolution and that is not to make any more New Year's resolutions. What is a New Year's resolution anyway except a promise to yourself and since you're the only person it involves you feel that you can break it with impunity.

As I sit here looking out at the magnificent, sunlit, snow-covered Rocky Mountains, it’s Sunday morning and we arrived here late yesterday afternoon after a long and arduous 1500-mile drive across almost half the continent.

When I was a little boy it seemed that Christmas would never get here, now it seems to come about every six months.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is old Bill Monroe bluegrass classic called "Christmas Time’s A-Comin'", a song that paints a picture of a rural observance of the Christmas season, a down to earth way of celebrating with the emphasis on spending time with family and friends and the simple joy of going home at Christmas to be with loved ones in nostalgic, familiar surroundings.

As one who I feel has at least a cursory knowledge of both sides of the gun control issue, I offer my humble opinion of the situation and the seemingly implacable positions that have been taken up by each.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2016. - TeamCDB

As I write this, it is December 7, 2016; the 75th anniversary of the Japanese sneak air attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in what was then the U.S. territory of Hawaii, before it had become our 50th state.

Just got home this morning from playing our last show of the year in Kansas City, a tour that started nine months, one hundred and eight shows and seventy-some thousand miles ago.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2009. - TeamCDB/BW

I got home off the road on a cold rainy Sunday morning to find our house all decorated for my favorite time of the year, the season we set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, Son of Almighty God, Prince of Peace, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, The Way The Truth, The Life and Savior of mankind.

Our government is no longer august citadels of reason where the highest standards of patriotism and civilized decorum are practiced, where all energy is laser-focused on what is best for our nation’s security and fiscal health, where party affiliation is second to the needs of “We the People” and truth and honor abound.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from way back in 2003. - TeamCDB/BW

To you who have read this column for years this piece may seem a little redundant since I have written on this subject before. But it is such a frequently asked question that I feel I should revisit it from time 
to time.

There is an old saying that “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.” Well, when it comes to elections all the fat lady can do is stand in the wings and wait until the votes are counted and that seems to depend on some pretty tenuous circumstances involving a cast of shady characters who have a tendency to balk when the vote tally doesn’t add up to suit them.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a soapbox rewind from 2009. - TeamCDB/BW

I guess it may be a sign of my advancing age or a healthy case of nostalgia in fond remembrance of a simpler time in my life, but sometimes I find my thoughts wandering back to a time and place in my young life when my responsibilities consisted making sure the wood box was full and keeping my grades above the passing line.

*NOTE* Here's a Soapbox Rewind from Charlie about Veterans Day - TeamCDB/BW

As we approach the day we set aside every year to honor those who have served our nation in our armed forces, my memory goes back to a blustery Sunday in 1941 - December 7 to be exact - when my family gathered around my grandparents big floor model radio to listen to a scratchy overseas broadcast informing us that Japanese warplanes had attacked our Naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii doing massive damage to a major part of the Pacific Fleet that was moored there.

*NOTE* Because of the timely nature of this soapbox, we're running it on Friday instead of Monday, and will run a rewind on Monday. - TeamCDB/BW

The election is over, the people have spoken, and although there is probably not a baker’s dozen in America who are completely happy with the outcome, it is my fervent hope that our president will dial back his acerbic rhetoric and the loyal opposition will put away the long knives and personal vendettas and take what’s good for the country into consideration for a change.

Frequently I am asked in interviews if I could go back and change anything about my life or career, what it would be. My stock and honest answer is that, I believe that there is a reaction to all actions and that anything I could reach back and change would have an impact on the way things turned out, and that, since I’m pretty happy about the way things did turn out, I would leave well enough alone.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from way back.... last year. - TeamCDB/BW

Many times, when I do a column about the appalling state of affairs in our nation or point out issues that are irritating to me, somebody asks a perfectly fair and legitimate question.

*NOTE* Charlie normally writes a new soapbox on Monday, but we flipped the script this week so a post on his 82nd birthday went up in place of a rewind on Friday, so we're running a rewind today. In light of the tragic massacre in Pittsburgh, here's a soapbox of his from 2014 on the worldwide problem of anti-Semitism. - TeamCDB/BW

I know there will always be prejudiced people for as long as there are human beings inhabiting this planet. There will always be small-minded individuals who will consider themselves to be a cut above a segment of the population and look down on them with disdain, sometimes harboring feelings deep and dark enough to motivate them to persecution and even bodily harm.

*NOTE* Normally, Charlie writes a new soapbox on Monday, but since he's writing about his upcoming birthday on Sunday October 28, we're running a new one today, and a rewind on Monday. Happy Birthday, Charlie! - TeamCDB/BW

October 28, 2018, God willing, I will turn 82 years old.

What are you supposed to be doing and how are you supposed to act when you’re 82?

other assorted trash as street muscle. They enforced Hitler’s evil with no legal standing. They were just a bunch of riff-raff that basically did whatever they wanted to do, protected by the Nazi Party.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back with a brand new soapbox on Monday, in the meantime, here's a rewind from 2009 which coincides with Saturday's 41st anniversary of the tragic 1977 Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash. - TeamCDB

“It was October in St. Louis town
When we heard that the free bird had fell to the ground
And we all said a prayer before we went down to play
And Ronnie, my buddy, above all the rest
I miss you the most and I loved you the best
And now that you’re gone I thank God I was blessed
Just to know you”

The last few weeks have been chaotic, to say the least, high faux drama wrapped in betrayal, theater, hyperbole and downright comedic antics complete with a heroine, who possessed the unparalleled courage, to witness multiple gang rapes at parties, and keep coming back to these parties, until she herself was the victim.

*NOTE* Charlie will be back on Monday with a brand new soapbox, in the meantime here is an appropriate soapbox for today as it is the 7th anniversary of the passing of William Joel "Taz" DiGregorio, Charlie's friend and longtime keyboard player for the CDB. RIP, Taz. - TeamCDB/TeamBW

This is the hardest soapbox I've ever written.

This morning about 4:15 am I got the news that I had lost one of my oldest and dearest friends, Taz DiGregorio. He was killed in a one-car accident on I-40, East of Nashville when he was driving to catch our tour bus to go on the road.