2004 Soap Box Archives

Blind Leading The Blind 02/20/04

On election night 2000 I was in downtown Nashville to sit in on a song with Sisters Wade who were playing at a club called the Exit In.

I’m sure you all remember how the lead kept going back and forth between Bush and Gore.

I was sitting backstage trying to keep up with the topsy turvy election returns and there was a young man there who made the statement concerning George Bush ”I hope he don’t win.”

I had not declared myself for either candidate and wondering how the young man had reached his conclusion I asked him why he didn’t want Bush to win.

“Because he’s an alcoholic,” he replied.

I informed him that Bush had stopped drinking years ago.

“Well he’s rich.”

I informed him that Al Gore was not exactly worrying about where his next meal was coming from and he ran out of any reasons why he didn’t want Bush to be President.

I was asking strictly for academic reasons, I really wanted to know this young man’s opinions. Of course he didn’t have to have any reason at all for being against Bush or anybody else he didn’t like.

But it really dawned on me how ill informed some of us are. Instead of sifting through the facts and making up our own minds, we take the word of others, we just simply don’t think for ourselves.

If you don’t believe me just think about how many times you’ve heard somebody repeat something they’ve heard on television as absolute fact.

The Internet is a great source of information but it is rife with
inuendo and outright lies.

Just think about this, an inaccuracy can be flashed around the world in a few seconds and many people accept the information
as fact and they forward it to someone else until it reaches exponential proportions and many times outright hoaxes are perpetrated on a gullible public in a few hours time.

There was recently a picture of John Kerry sitting in a crowd with Jane Fonda at an anti-war rally which turned out to be a total fabrication.

I am not a John Kerry fan but fair is fair and this is simply not fair, regardless of which side is shoveling out the dirt.

We don’t draw our own conclusions, and there is a faction in politics who just love it. As long as there is a large segment of the population who are willing to be herded around like sheep, it
makes it easy for them.

They passively swallow rhetoric like separation of church and state, tax cuts for the rich, a woman’s right to choose and all the other little catch phrase fallacies that are so popular with these unscrupulous people.

In this column I state my opinion, it is my opinion alone and the only way you’ll read it is to go to this website or have somebody send it to you. I won’t, because I will not foist my opinion on anyone who doesn’t want to know it.

I know I have strong convictions and I state them in no uncertain terms, but I urge each and every one of you to make up your own minds, draw your own conclusions, my writings notwithstanding.

Just a small addendum here, the only published internet writings I take responsibility for are in this column as I don’t have a mailing list and do not forward this soapbox to anybody.

There are some people out there who really detest what I write
and I don’t think they would be above sending out amended or even completely erroneous emails in my name.

Remember, if it ain’t on this website, it ain’t mine.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God bless America

Charlie Daniels