Soap Box

To watch what unfolded in Baltimore this past week is an unsettling experience, to say the least, no matter what level of society or affluence you come from and should serve as a wake up call to any and all, because Baltimore, Ferguson et al, is not the four alarm we tend to think of it as being, but the fuse, that could very well ignite powder kegs all over the country.

The senseless violence and general anarchy were tragic enough but the downright naive and amateurish way it was handled by the powers that be were, in some ways, even more appalling. Because it seemed for a twenty-four-hour period that the burning, looting and destruction of property had the potential to spread over a much larger area, unchecked and growing beyond the control of a restrained law enforcement presence.

In times of crisis the American public has a right to expect their elected officials to stop being politicians and start being leaders, concerned only with the safety and welfare of the citizens they are sworn to serve, protecting people and their property by whatever means are at their disposal.

Time and time again we have seen this failure of leadership, the refusal of public officials to adopt a "buck stops here" attitude and taking the steps, no matter how unpopular they are, to actually serve the public, but I don�t think America has ever seen a high ranking public official give thugs tacit permission to loot, burn and destroy the way the mayor of Baltimore, Maryland did.

The mayor's excuse for just standing back and watching her city be destroyed is that she didn't have the proper resources in place to stop it, a theory that was blown all to hell when one irate mother marched into the crowd of adrenaline fueled rock throwers, jerked her kid out of the bunch and unceremoniously frog marched him home, all the while liberally administering slaps to the head and a withering verbal barrage.

The situation could have been handled, I�m sure there were enough battle hardened veteran police officers behind those shields could, given the opportunity and a little tear gas, have quelled and handcuffed enough of the mob to at least disperse it,

It came to light during the Baltimore riots that there are anarchists involved, out of towners who use social media and networking to motivate, incite and even schedule uprisings, and unfortunately, I don�t believe we've seen the last of them, they�ll surface again at wherever the next racially charged hot spot pops up.

The frustration in the black community has festered for a long time, barely maintaining just below the ignition point and not without some justification as the problems they face are only addressed by politicians when they're courting votes.

And even then, during the short attention span of election time the root causes of the have-nots of the inner cities are rarely approached as politicians and minority leaders sidestep the real destructive forces that plague the communities and take the easy way out, which invariably involves the need for more and more money and the myth that they are being held down by an oppressive majority who have no desire to see them prosper.

The truth of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of Americans would like nothing better than to see depressed minorities climb out of poverty and take their places in industry and business, with access to the better paying jobs and a prosperous life.

The politicians rarely mention that the neighborhoods they live in will never change as long as they are ruled by violent gangs and drug dealers and that existing on entitlements will never raise the standard of living above the poverty level.

That having multiple children with absentee fathers who are not held accountable for the children they abandon fosters a generational breaking down of family.

That education is the key to breaking the chains and should be a top priority in every family.

At a time when our leaders should be stepping out front and stressing the essential importance of self responsibility, race baiters like Al Sharpton come around to tell the already inflamed population that they are not responsible for their plight but are victims.

Literally trillions of dollars have been spent in an attempt to upgrade the inner city neighborhoods in the last fifty years, money wasted on meaningless government programs that amount to nothing more than a coat of cosmetics, never attacking the true root of the problems.

The relationship with the inner city and the police departments need to be addressed immediately and sensibly because they need a strong and authoritative police presence to clean up the neighborhoods, no child should have to walk to school in fear of a stray bullet from some gang confrontation.

The irony of the tragic events in Baltimore should not be lost on anybody as the majority of the municipal brass are all black, so if there is oppression is it not black on black oppression. Are the mayor and the city council not responsible for the actions of the police force?

With the riots in Baltimore the self-fulfilling prophecy goes on, poverty begetting violence and violence begetting poverty.

What company in their right mind is going to build a business in a location where they can be burnt out any given night and the powers that be basically turn a blind eye.

I hope and pray that America has learned some lessons from the recent uprisings in Ferguson and Baltimore and will address the underlying problems and root out the causes.

Because if we haven't we're going to be living through this nightmare again and again.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops and the peace of Jerusalem

God Bless America

� Charlie Daniels

PLEASE READ BEFORE YOU POST

Feel free to comment on Charlie's soapboxes, but please refrain from profanity and "Anonymous" posts are not allowed, we need a name (it doesn't have to be your first and last name) and you MUST provide a valid email address. If you provide an email address, but leave the name as "Anonymous" we will pick a name for you based on your email address. No one other than website adminstrators will see your email address, not other posters. If you post without a valid email address, your comment (whether postive or negative) will be deleted. � TeamCDB