Soap Box

Anarchy - a situation of confusion and wild behavior in which the people in a country, group, organization, etc., are not controlled by rules or laws. � Merriam-Webster Dictionary

The recent shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers and the wounding of nine more was nothing less than anarchy - and I�m not talking about the political philosophy - but rather an attack on the whole of society and the laws of civility that support it, a strike against the authority structure any civilized society must have to sustain it.

Americans have a right to address their grievances by peaceful demonstration and from what I can understand and glean from different news reports, this is exactly what was happening when the shooting started and the Dallas police force immediately ran toward the source of the shooting, getting the exposed demonstrators to places of safety as they went, their first duty, to protect the public.

The rage over recent police shootings resulting in the line of duty has been spilling out into the streets of America, and along with the sincere citizens who want to draw attention and rectify the situation, there has come an element of those who could only be described as dissidents and agitators, whose purpose for being there go much deeper than seeing justice done for a few shootings.

Their intention is to cause chaos, to sow the seeds of dissension and widen the gulf of distrust between the races, they want America to become a nation un-united and afraid, where the law of the street replaces the law of the land and to convince milksop, opportunistic politicians to tie the hands of law enforcement until their efficiency and effectiveness would be hampered to the point of near impotency.

I was taught and would advise anybody, black, white or whatever, that when you're approached by a law enforcement officer, keep your hands in plain sight and do whatever he or she tells you and 99% of the problems would disappear.

Already, many of the big city police feel that they have no support and no backing from city hall and, fearful of being hauled into court for just doing their jobs, they have to walk by potentially dangerous situations because of the attitudes of pandering, politically correct bosses.

I know there has to be a few trigger-happy cops in America but their numbers would be infinitesimal. The overwhelming numbers of police officers are decent men and women, family people who society asks to deal with the scum of the human race, to face death inside any darkened doorway, and recently, take their own lives in their hands simply by wearing the uniform and becoming a target for some nut like Micah Johnson.

There were other shootings and attempted police shootings around the country this past week and the official response has been more of a bleat when a deafening roar needs to be heard.

America needs to get its priorities in order. Policemen and firemen should be among the highest paid and efficiently trained of all the public employees. The pay and the benefits should be such that would attract the best and the brightest of the dedicated minded young people.

Our police departments should be equipped with every weapon, vehicle and technology they would ever need. Our police should never, ever be outgunned.

Municipal governments should of course bring to justice any cop who takes advantage of the badge for extortion, harassment or excess force, but at the same time giving any officer charged the right of being innocent until proven guilty, not pillared and tried in the media while mayors and district attorneys join the fray trying to collect a few political points.

Having spent almost 80 years on this earth, I have seen race relations come from the Jim Crow days of segregation and intentional deprivation, from the days when the best a black kid could wish for was a mid level job in some industrial factory, to present day when the possibility of being a captain of industry, front office sports executive, congressman, senator or even the leader of the free world is real.

It is my fervent wish that we could just all be unhyphenated Americans, not African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans and so forth.

Just �Americans� who would of course have our differences, politically and otherwise, but when push comes to shove as it did in Dallas recently, we could come together and present a united front, just God's children, all breathing the same air and do our level best to see that such a tragedy doesn't happen again.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels