Colin Powell: Terrorists are not greatest threat to nation (Updated)
(Cross posted at Daily Kos)
I know we're being urged, today, to remember 9/11, but I think we should learn some lessons from that day and use them to look to the future. That said, I read something today from Colin Powell that is worth contemplating:
"What is the greatest threat facing us now? People will say it's terrorism. But are there any terrorists in the world who can change the American way of life or our political system? No. Can they knock down a building? Yes. Can they kill somebody? Yes. But can they change us? No. Only we can change ourselves..."He is, of course, right. In seeking to overthrow the US, Osama bin Laden has no greater ally than George W. Bush who has systematically trashed the foundation of what makes us so special: the US Constitution. It is the US Constitution that restricts the power of our leaders and guarantees the freedom and liberty of the people -- the vital ingredient to our greatness.
So, in Powell's opinion, what is the greatest threat to our nation?
"America could not survive without immigration," he says. "Even the undocumented immigrants are contributing to our economy. That's the country my parents came to. That's the image we have to portray to the rest of the world: kind, generous, a nation of nations, touched by every nation, and we touch every nation in return. That's what people still want to believe about us. They still want to come here. We've lost a bit of the image, but we haven't lost the reality yet. And we can fix the image by reflecting a welcoming attitude -- and by not taking counsel of our fears and scaring ourselves to death that everybody coming in is going to blow up something. It ain't the case."A nation of nations. Once upon a time we believed in that so strongly we made it our motto: E Pluribus Unum.
Since then, others have taken up that model (Israel and Australia come to mind), but we are (or have been) the most successful at it -- because the people who come here know that they will be be free to succeed.
If we lose that, we've lost everything.
UPDATE: If you hate Powell, fine. I'm certainly not defending him. But his point is an important one. Any major Dem candidate speaking like this would be lauded.
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Categories: Constitution
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Comments
You never answered the question.
So what's the greatest threat to both our tradition of open immigration and our constitutional system?
Republicanism.
Posted by: shep![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.rubyan.com/politics/nav-commenters.gif)
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September 11, 2007 02:19 PM