Father Orthoduck is preempting Father Ernesto for the following important note on a true American hero.
General Colin Powell was the Chief of Staff for the USA Armed Forces during Operation Desert Storm. It was the plan that he approved then sent to President Bush that was used by General Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, Jr. when we carried out first Operation Desert Shield and then Operation Desert Storm. This is a man who has faithfully served his country and was put forward as a Republican candidate for President of the United States. He turned down running for the post, but the fact that he was highly considered by many Americans will give you an idea of both his popularity and his reputation.
Fox News yesterday had the following story on him:
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says illegal immigrants do essential work in the U.S. and he has firsthand knowledge of that — because they fix his house.
Powell, a moderate Republican, urged his party Sunday to support immigration generally because it is “what’s keeping this country’s lifeblood moving forward.”
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he said a path to legal status should be offered to illegal immigrants because they “are doing things we need done in this country.”
He added: “They’re all over my house, doing things whenever I call for repairs, and I’m sure you’ve seen them at your house. We’ve got to find a way to bring these people out of the darkness and give them some kind of status.”
Father Orthoduck is certain that many in the overly conservative right and in the Religious Right will disagree with General Colin Powell. But, here is the important fact. One only needs to look back at some of the posters on this blog to realize that the all too typical answer to many of the viewpoints expressed on this blog is that they must be liberal ideas. This is regardless of any statements that either Father Orthoduck or Father Ernesto might make about being moderates. This is regardless of any quotes from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. This is regardless of any statements by Patriarchs or Popes.
But, here is a gentleman who has served in a Republican administration. Here is a gentleman that was part of the planning for an massive military operation that the United States completed successfully. Here is a gentleman that many conservatives wished would run for the Presidency of the United States of America.
And, it is this gentleman that now argues that the attitude that many in the overly conservative right and the Religious Right hold concerning immigrants is not an appropriate attitude. Father Orthoduck fully agrees with his stance. But, I suspect that despite the credentials that General Colin Powell has there will still be those in the far right who will now try to question his conservative credentials. But, Father Orthoduck would suggest that it is past time for many in the Religious Right, particularly those who are Orthodox, to reevaluate their attitude with regards to illegal immigrants and to the possibility of their reasonably attaining the status of citizens.
General Colin Powell shows us that it is not a liberal stance to try to find a reasonable path to citizenship for those who are here without papers. It is a proper and historically most American stance.
One of the things some of my friends and I were discussing in the last year or so is that in some ways another problem with the illegal immigrant discussion is how the whole debate gets framed. The B-movie Machete sends up the nature of the discourse pretty brutally. Since some of my friends are illegal immigrants who have lived in the country for decades (and urge people to vote Republican most of the time) I think it may be pertinent to say what a friend of mine once pointed out about the concerns that come up, namely that there’s not a whole lot of worry that the WHITE illegal immigrants from places like Russia or Poland or South Africa or elsewhere are destroying American jobs.
Since a significant chunk of my family background is American Indian the charge that people shouldn’t just come to this country to make new lives for themselves at the expense of the people who were here first can be given some very cynical rejoinders.
General Powell and others like him like the source of cheap labor.
It is a good and fair point that most of us would trace our ancestry back to somewhere other than this country. There are definitely political issues involved that I am not qualified to address. But I was reminded just yesterday that the world itself is a much better place due to the diversity of the people living in it. Some might be tempted to think that it would be great if everyone were the same, but I would have to respectfully disagree with that sentiment. Different points of view, life experiences, and sensibilities I think give us a much richer place to live. And it seems to me that being open to the possibilities inherent in a multi-cultural society give humanity (in general, America specifically) the best pool from which to draw as we continue to move forward.