80. Ramblings along a wall.

Shortly after the 43rd best president America ever had delivered his State of the Union address in January, I blogged about him going where a lot of pundits thought he wouldn't in the speech - to the Iraq War and foreign policy in general. The president wandered into troubled waters, explaining his cause to an American public bent on doubting the validity of our purposes in Iraq, unsure that the president has any sort of real plan of either victory or withdrawal, and unwilling to accept whatever it is he might have to say on the matter. Nonetheless he made his case and in my blog writing, I gave him due credit for having done so, all the time not having any faith in the case he was making.

Today he wanders in again, this time a return to immigration, another topic on which he is further removed from the American public than many in his Party, or for that matter, many in mine. But on the subject of immigration, the president and I have some limited areas of agreement. We both agree that the current system is broke and needs fixing. We both agree on a guest-worker program. We both agree we must find some workable way to enrol those already here as Americans, although I am far more committed to this than he is. He is probably more keenly aware than I am that a number of latinos have moved their political pursuasions somewhat toward the center and away from the Republican Party. On the whole, many latinos remain socially conservative and relgiously active, either in the Iglesia Catolica or in the newer Iglesia Baptista Evangelica, the evangelistic fundamentalist Baptist sect which in recent years have reached out to latinos in great numbers. Despite their social and religious conservatism, latinos are voting in greater number on the Left Side of the Aisle as opposed to the Dark Side.

The president sees a new policy on immigration, among other things, as a political tool to pull latinos back into the Republican political fold. I see immigration policy as a manifestation of the true practice of Christianity to reach out to those less fortunate, the idea of "love thy neighbor," to do for those who are the least among us as we would do unto Christ. Well, that is one idea. My practice of acceptance of latinos and others of foreign blood isn't honestly based in Christian compassion, but it does help that Jesus and I agree on the need to "do unto others as we would have them do unto us." The religious aspect is only one part of my belief that the border separating Mexico from the United States should be simply that, a border, not a Wall. I do not believe in walls.

On this matter, the president has in recent days swung back to the right. He is stepping up border patrols and intends to do so even more. Over the weekend an article ran in the Courier-Journal about Kentucky National Guard troops doing their duty patrolling the Wall at Nogales. One person spoke of it as pretecting against the invasion of our country, as if these Mexicans crossing over into our Republic looking for work have the same malicious intent as the terroristic followers of Osama Ben Laden did in bringing about the events of September 11. I understand the man is just doing his job, but the equation of one to another left me both sad and upset. The truth is, these folks are for the most part willing economic refugees who have found the "Well that Never Runs Dry" in America, in part because they will work for wages below what most Americans are willing to accept. Now, whose fault is that? Right now, today, there are Mexicans installing the roof at a location near to where I live. I wandered by there yesterday afternoon and spoke to one of those who was on the ground, as opposed to up on the roof. In my best really-bad Spanish, I said hello, asked him about his work and wished him well. He was happy to have someone to speak to other than one of the three others in his work crew. I learned he was 23, had been in Louisville about three months, and had been working all this year on various roofing projects. I said good bye. I do not know if he is here legally or not. I do not know if he is using a fake social security card or not - although if he is, and if he is also illegal, he is in a way helping to support a system he will never be able to draw from, unlike the president and the Congress who draw from that bank of money all the time, usually without notice or care of the legitimate American taxpayers who have paid into it. And mostly what I know is that he is working on that particular job because someone else isn't willing to. That's how he has the job. It is available.

Ok. At this point I am going to stop. I am getting all worked up. I'll revisit this subject again - it is important to me. How important is it to you?