2008 Soap Box Archives

Almost a New Year

Where did it go, 2008? It seems that it should only be about six months old and already it's about to get out of the way and make room for a brand new 2009.

I don't remember a year in a long time when there was as much confusion, doubt and downright fear about what the new year will hold for the people of this country.

We have a new president coming into office, a president -the truth be told- we know very little about. It remains to be seen how he will govern and how his approach to domestic policy will effect the economy.

It also remains to be seen whether or not our allies and our enemies will respect him and if his approach to foreign affairs will be considered weak or strong by the terrorists who want to destroy us.

The Russians are rattling their nuclear sabers again, and cozying up with avowed enemies of the USA like Hugo Chavez.

How will our new president handle our old enemies who respect nothing but strength?

Can you imagine how shutting down Guantanamo Bay would be viewed by the radical Islamic world as a surrender? That's how they'll look at it, yet Mr. Obama has said unequivocally that he would shut it down. What will be the results of that move?

Will President Obama try to involve the United Nations in all our business, or will he recognize the UN for the toothless, senile, impotent club of jealous America haters that it is.

I have a feeling that dealing with the rest of the world is going to be very difficult in the coming year, just look at what is going on in Israel, and there's no telling what loose ends they may tie up before President Bush goes out of office because nobody knows how President Obama would view these military moves by the Israelis and whether they would have even tacit support from the new president.

The Democrats will control the White House and both houses of Congress, with precious few checks and balances on their unbridled power to do anything their tax and spend loving hearts desire. Will they break things so badly they can't be fixed again?

In the face of near record cold and massive, widespread snowfall, and the constant rebuttal of their theories, the doomsayers of global warming are still marching to their own drummer and telling us that the seas are shrinking, the polar bear is in danger of extinction and the planet is coming to an end.

Is global warming going to wreak havoc on the third planet from the sun?

As I write this I'm in Colorado where there is three or four feet of snow on the ground, two foot long icicles hanging off the roof and the temperature has been as low as minus 15.

Though I believe there are many things we can do to improve our environment, I don't buy into global warming. I think the planet is just going through normal cycles just as it has for thousands of years.

It's nothing new to mistrust politicians. When Congressional leaders look in a television camera and tell the nation that two of our largest financial organizations are on firm footing as Barney Frank and assorted other members of Congress did, and then a year or so later the whole thing goes bust, spilling dire ramifications around the world and wiping out some of America's most prestigious financial giants, what are we to think when Barney Frank and his ilk tell us about anything else?

You just don't know who to trust these days.

Mr. Frank and friends also forced banks to make loans to people who had no hope of paying them back. Is this going to be the policy of the new Democratic controlled Congress?

There's a lot to ponder as we go into 2009, so many things that are out of our control, so much we have to distrust, so much we are uncertain about.

So much has changed in our lives. So many people and institutions we thought we could put our trust in have turned out to be rotten to the core.

But one thing hasn't changed and never will.

God is still on the throne.

He still loves us.

He still offers free salvation and eternal life through the shed blood of His son, Jesus Christ, and that's something you can depend on, now and forever.

So don't let the world scare you.

From all of us here at The CDB and Twin Pines Ranch, we wish each and every one of you the happiest and most prosperous New Year you've ever had.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

 

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