Soap Box

In the time and place that I came from telling the truth was not viewed so much as a virtue as a matter of routine obligation, just the normal thing to do. I learned very early on in my life that taking refuge in a lie was looked upon as worse than the thing you were lying to cover up. Of course I had to learn a lot of hard lessons to come to that rock solid conclusion.

The world seemed a much smaller place then and people seemed to have more respect for each other's feelings and wellbeing, communities seemed tighter and your circle of friends were to be respected and defended, but a perpetual liar soon became known as one and even when he told the truth you didn't trust what he said.

The most valued thing a man had was his word and the actions that backed them up and a man who resorted to lies had neither.

Of course adding a few inches on the length of a fish you caught or a few yards to the shot that took that big buck down were tolerated but being untruthful about anything that could cause harm or dissension was not.

Naturally we had our share of charlatans and conmen who sold patent medicine they made incredible and untrue statements about, and the politicians of the day tended to paint rosy pictures of the way life would be if they were elected and never deliver on their promises, but all in all the truth was practiced and respected.

It seems that nowadays a large segment of the population seems to view a lie as being all right if the results are in their favor and lying in the cause of gain is perfectly acceptable. Look at the billions of dollars in false welfare claims, the obtaining of food stamps by people who don't qualify, the doctors who routinely defraud government programs out of billions of dollars a year.

Consider a president who looked at the people of America through the lens of a television camera and knowingly told the nation a bald faced lie. And remember, "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor, period" and the video nobody has seen that supposedly caused the killing of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya.

Trust in the three branches of government has fallen below the freezing level and with good reason. Congress now has approval ratings that would embarrass any decent person, the head of the IRS takes the fifth, the president speaks through a preppy press secretary who talks in circles, uses executive privilege to cover up anything he doesn't want to come to light and changes legislation that he has already signed into law at will.

How can a government, supposedly of the people, by the people and for the people, use underhanded tactics to rush a bill they haven't even read through the democrat majority in both houses of Congress without even reading it, and still ask us to put our future in their hands.

How can an attorney general who practices selective law enforcement, has no respect for the states rights statutes, puts guns in the hands of murdering drug cartels and hides behind executive privilege when he's caught at it, expect the population to trust him to protect the rights of all Americans.

How can an agency like the Internal Revenue Service use Gestapo type suppression tactics against the supposed enemies of a sitting president and one political party expect Americans to ever again have any respect for, or any confidence in, their competence and honesty.

When we come to find out that an agency whose job it is to spy on our enemies uses their Star Wars technology to spy on American citizens without so much as a whisper about it, how are we supposed to ever trust them again?

How can people serve in the foreign diplomatic corps knowing that a former Secretary of State didn't think it mattered whether their brutally murdered co-workers were killed by a mob or al-Qaeda?

How can American troops serve with confidence under a commander-in-chief who allows his Vice President to out members of super secret SEAL teams involved in clandestine operations all over the world?

Truth? Honor? Integrity?

Casualties of public indifference and political expedience.

What a shame.

The bill will arrive shortly.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels​