Soap Box

Between overcrowded court dockets, politically correct judges, plea bargaining, release on technicality and dozens of other examples of the bending and subversion of the law, there are many violent and unrepentant criminals on the streets of America.

Many are career criminals who have darkened the door of a courtroom many times but, due to the maneuvering of a slick attorney, an intimidated witness or some Pollyanna judge's version of meting out of the justice, continue a life of crime until they finally do something so egregious they can't be allowed to slip through the cracks.

Here in my home state of Tennessee there exists some glitch in state law that allows a drunk driver to be set free and any mention of DWI expunged from their record. That means that when they come before another judge for driving intoxicated, which they undoubtedly will, no prior charge of driving drunk exists against them and has to be treated as if it were a first offense.

This has been known to happen up to seven times which means that a driver who is a danger to every citizen in the state of Tennessee is turned back out to threaten life and limb again and again, until the inevitable loss of life forces a judge and jury to finally put them away.

The problem of drunk driving in America increases exponentially day after day as drunk drivers cross into oncoming lanes, enter off ramps on interstates, run stop lights and even run up on to sidewalks, killing and injuring innocent men, women and children who have a reasonable right to expect the courts to take these ticking time bombs off the road.

Clashes between violent gangs with children caught in the cross fire, drug addicts willing to kill to feed their addiction, random attacks on city streets for no reason at all, the looting and burning supposedly done in the name of racial justice we recently saw in Ferguson and Baltimore, home invasions, car jacking, neighborhoods controlled by belligerent teenagers where the citizens are afraid to be on the streets.

Things have gotten out of hand, way out of hand.

What has brought us to this sorry state of affairs?

In my humble opinion the lion's share of the problem is disrespect for the law and public officials who, for one greedy reason or another, publicly denounce their police forces, always taking the side of the ones who claim to be mistreated and in effect, tacitly granting a license for civil disobedience that rapidly gets out of hand and then expecting the same police forces they were so quick to denounce to settle the riots without incident.

To say that there are zero instances of police brutality would be an out and out lie, but it is by no means as prevalent as the media portrays and certainly does not represent the mentality and attitude of the overwhelming majority of law officers in America.

Yet when the criticism comes down it is perceived by the public as a blanket indictment toward a group of people who deserve neither respect nor concern and all too often it results in violence, a violence which is heartily encouraged by the shadowy figures who hide behind their social media avatars and applaud the taking of a cop's life.

If you talk to a lawyer or judge about the law, they will likely tell you that without law we would be living in the jungle.

That could be partially amended to say that without enforcement of the law we would be living in the jungle.

Our situation in America has reached the point that any efficient remedy will have to include stringent measures.

A complete overhauling of our educational system, where the worth of a teacher is decided by their efficiency, not a union steward. A system where education, not politics is the purpose for existing.

Enforce security in schools that will allow for a proper learning environment, by whatever means.

Separate the troublemakers.

A national administration that stops paying lip service to creating jobs and begins the process of revamping tax structures and easing ridiculous and repetitive regulations to bring American industry back to our shores.

Revisit the prison rosters with special attention to non violent crimes for first offenders who have learned their lesson and could be placed back into society and make room for the truly dangerous offenders and let them serve their time under the supervision they need.

Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg, but a good place to start, but none of this or any other rehabilitation effort to save American society would mean a thing if the law is not enforced, locally, federally, impartially and enthusiastically.

Our law enforcement entities need our support and we need theirs.

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