2001 Soap Box Archives

Same Ole Me

We have a message board on our web site which anybody who wants to can leave a message, expressing their opinions an any subject they choose. Lately we have received some messages which I feel that I should address. Unfortunately the people who left these messages decided for one reason or another not to sign them, so I don’t know who I am addressing but here goes. You called me a narrow minded corporate bigot. Well let me tell you something hotshot, I’m about as corporate as my dog. I am a people person and have employees who have been with me for over twenty five years. I have a 401 K plan and health insurance for my employees, give them liberal vacations and bonuses. My employees have never missed a paycheck, even when I had to borrow the money from the bank. Even when I was deeply in debt. Let me ask you something hot shot? Did you ever lay in bed at night wondering how you were going to pay off a couple of million dollars? Well I have, so don’t tell me about being corporate. I take good care of my people. Another letter said that I had changed and been deceived by the corporate conservative platform. Well let me tell you something too Mr. Nameless. I hope I’ve changed. I hope I’m a better person and a better Christian than I was years ago and I make absolutely no apologies about that. As to being deceived by the corporate conservative platform, I want you to know that I have not been deceived by anybody or anything. My opinions have been formed by sixty-four years of living and forty plus years of being in business. You seem to be in favor of big government, maybe that’s where we differ because I’m defiantly not in favor of big government. I don’t feel that the government is responsible for my welfare from the cradle to the grave. I have a very good reason for saying that. Because I’m an able bodied person who is able to earn a living on my own without government assistance. I have never gotten a cent from the government, never even drawn an unemployment check, and I dang sure didn’t get where I am by stepping on anybody’s head. The blessings of God and hard work are the answer. I have burned the midnight oil, the mid day oil and the three o'clock in the morning oil to make a life for my family and my employees. I have worked when I was sick and exhausted. I have missed my son's birthdays, his first words and first steps. I have been away from my wife for four months at the time and gotten off of a broken down junky bus in the cold wee hours of the morning to get rent a cars so we could make it to the next gig. You try to paint me as anti-union. I happen to belong to several unions and have refused to cross picket lines in front of recording studios and concert venues. And for your information I did three benefit concerts to help Jimmy Carter get elected and to this day believe he’s the most honorable man to hold the office my lifetime. I am proud to call him friend. You also seem to think that I’m a Republican. I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I vote for the person, not the party and I think they are collectively to blame for the mess this country is in. You try to make me appear as a heartless, dispassionate person who is against any government assistance to anybody. Nothing could be farther than the truth. I just happen to believe that the government does a poor job of administering our tax dollars. It takes more to run the beaurocracy than what actually reaches the needy people. I feel that they encourage people to have children they have no intention of taking care of just to draw a bigger welfare check. I think that all able bodied people should have to work for a living . You say that the people who make the most money should pay the most taxes. Guess what? They do. I’m so sick and tired about hearing about a tax cut for the wealthy. I’m not a Vanderbilt, a Rockefeller nor Bill Gates, but I would love to see these people get a tax cut. You know why? Because that money will not end up in the pocket of a crack dealer nor molding in a bank vault. They will invest it, in the stock market, in new businesses, in all sorts of ventures which create jobs, which in turn creates prosperity. The government doesn’t create anything except debt. I came to Nashville with a twenty dollar bill, the clutch out of my car and a wife and baby. I went to a pawn shop and pawned everything we had of any value so we could have money to feed our baby until I could get to work. I was told by people that I’d never make it in the music business, that there’s nothing special about me. If I can make something out of myself, anybody with normal intelligence and a lot of drive can do the same thing. My heartfelt beliefs are derived from experience not from what Dan Rather says on the evening news or some politicians sound bite. So don’t ask me to apologize for accomplishing something. I just thank God for America and the absolute truth that it’s out there for you if you want it bad enough. Oh and by the way, to the person who called me a bigot. I don’t think you know the true meaning of the word. If you really want to know, look it up in the dictionary and go take a long look in the mirror.

What do you think?

God Bless America
Charlie Daniels