As America celebrates her 243rd birthday, it's hard not to become fixated on the numerous and critical challenges we face.

But just for today, lets concentrate on the challenges we have faced, the social and fiscal mountains we've conquered, the wars we've won, the diseases we've eradicated, the technological wonders we've created, the people we've freed, space exploration, wonder drugs, subsonic flight and the list goes on and on.

It took a lot of muscle, blood, courage and tenacity to tame a continent. It took a people who refused to give up on the dream of freedom and prosperity that had uprooted them and motivated them to leave ancestral homes, and sail thousands of miles of treacherous ocean to make landfall in a new world they knew nothing about and face hostile indigents, raging rivers and endless, uncharted wilderness inundated with aggressive animals, poisonous snakes and only Heaven knew what else.

When I hear people say that Obama is responsible for the good economy we are experiencing, it reminds me of a statement he made about manufacturing jobs in America.

I can’t bring myself to believe that there aren’t enough Americans alive who still remember the reality and abject failure of socialism and the wide path of human deprivation and suffering, shattered societies and failing dictatorships all socialist governments eventually morph into, to stave off the onslaught of socialist presidential candidates that inundate the democrat side of the upcoming election.

Yesterday as I listened to excerpts from President Trump’s speech, when he addressed the World War II veterans who had stormed the beaches of Normandy in the face incessant machine gun fire and artillery barrages that colored miles of surf with their blood, as he singled out individuals, who - now in their nineties - had returned to the scene of the bloodiest day of WWII to pay respect to their fallen brothers and renew acquaintances with the few who had survived the seven decades since “The Longest Day," I found my eyes becoming misty and my thoughts returning to that day, June 6, 1944, when the Methodist Church in Valdosta, Georgia was packed to the rafters with Americans of every stripe, who had come to beseech Almighty God on behalf of the brave men fighting and dying on a beachhead thousands of miles away.

Robert Mueller’s summation of his investigation of President Trump has - at least in my opinion - actually created more questions than it has answered.

In my youth, the holiday we celebrate this weekend was known as Decoration Day, which started in 1861 when a bouquet was placed on a Civil War veteran’s grave and continued as America paid homage and tribute to the men and women who paid the ultimate price in defense of America by “decorating” or placing flowers on the graves of fallen heroes.

Forty years ago, the band and myself were engaged in intense writing and rehearsal mode, creating and preparing material for the first project we would be doing with our new producer John Boylan.

Never forget, socialism is not about compassion, it’s about control.

I watched part of the Senate hearing with Attorney General William Barr yesterday and, instead of hearing the informed questions of supposedly public servants who are sworn to serve the interests and security of this nation and the people who put them in office, I was bombarded with useless, showboat inquiries that everybody in the room already knew the answers to.

Everybody in America is ready to “move on” from the Mueller Report.

The problem is that there is a dichotomy of thought on the subject.

As the rolls of those who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president continue to swell, it would seem that most of those who have thrown their hat in the ring have come to the conclusion that the candidate who promises the most free goods and entitlements will be the one to win and to win at all costs, the security, economy and welfare of the United States of America be damned.

The night Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot and arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the Temple guards advanced on Him and the disciples who were with Him, Peter pulled out a sword and slashed off the ear of a servant of the High Priest who was waiting in Jerusalem to try and condemn Him.

I remember back when Haight-Ashbury was the mecca of the peace and love movement and much of the philosophy, vernacular and rhetoric that was endlessly repeated around the country had their origins amongst the long-haired, beaded and bearded flower children who hung out there and other counter culture hot spots in hippie-friendly San Francisco.

To hug or not to hug, that is the question, 
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous television coverage
Or to take arms from around the offended
And fade into this good night. 

Apologies to William Shakespeare.

There was a time in my younger life, when I was more inclined to take things at face value, or superficial appearances, without actually delving into the reasons for or the aftermath of, the doing away, or at other times, the instituting of policies and programs.

I come from a long line of farmers and timber people, folks who made their living from what grew out of the ground. Men who had a great and abiding respect for the soil and water, who harvested the timber with an eye on selective cutting, for leaving seed trees to replenish the woodlands, for never leaving the dead trimmings next to a standing tree to keep the bugs who attack dead wood from going into a live tree and killing it.

The unadulterated darling of the media these days and the prototype of Democrat idealism is a slight, outspoken, would-be social engineer and international mover and shaker named Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a former barkeep from the Bronx in New York.

I remember World War II so well, the defeat of the Nazis and the belligerence of the Russians after they had invaded Eastern Europe and refused to move their occupation forces out, in essence, annexing East Berlin and eventually building the Berlin Wall, the line of demarcation between the Soviet powers and the Western Allies.

There is a most alarming thing going on in America, a slimy, poisonous lie that must hide in the darkness of misconceptions, the fog of deceit and misrepresentation to exist. It can never be exposed to the light of full disclosure and total truth or it would be suffocated by the knowledge of its history and catastrophic ramifications.

All it takes is a look at the U.S. Congress to see how seriously fractured our nation is.

Charlie is still working on a new book and is limiting himself to one new soapbox a week, but for today’s 50th Anniversary of Charlie performing on Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline album, we thought we’d try something different instead of running a “rewind.” Here are three excerpts from Charlie’s memoir, “Never Look at the Empty Seats,” which highlight what was going on in Charlie’s career at the time, and his experiences recording with Dylan, touring with Leonard Cohen, and even jamming with Dylan and George Harrison, all thanks to Charlie’s friend and mentor, the late Bob Johnston. – TeamCDB/BW

The world is going to end in twelve years.

Is there some dire ancient prophecy, some newly discovered writing predicting the future 12-year period in which Planet Earth would just give up the ghost, all human and animal life would die from the greenhouse gas effect?

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.