Opinion: Michael Steele, Black, Pro-Life Catholic Takes the Helm of the G.O.P.

Catholic Online ^ | 1/3/09 | Deacon Keith Fournier

[RobinOfKingston]

Maybe all these people’s guilt will finally be assuaged.

This is one white country boy who is totally unburdened by guilt. Everybody is my brother or sister until their ideology proves them to be far distant cousins, at best.

I wish Steel success in this job beyond his wildest imaginings.

[Steelfish]

Conservative American means adherence to the Declaration of Independence. Government policies that advance equality to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Michael Steele is a true proponent of this theme.

[itsahoot]

I stand corrected. He is pro-life\

He appears to have taken positions on both sides of the issue, at least both sides seem to claim he is their guy. Anyone have a definitive answer as to his true position?

[norton]

"That is why I have never been comfortable fighting with this sort on my side. "

That's because he isn't on your side, or mine, he is on HIS side and making threats against any who don't agree entirely with his hierarchy of issues.

[AuntB]

“Government policies that advance equality to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Michael Steele is a true proponent of this theme.”

Equality of life does NOT include affirmative action. Steele is all about affirmative action. We’ll see how he does on this in the future.

“I support the current system and improvements to the current system, keeping in mind that while we have done very well in affirmative action at our universities across this country, I look at our boardrooms across the country, I look at NBC, CNBC, Fox, all these stations, all the corporate, corporate companies-and I don’t see affirmative action necessarily being practiced there when I look at the management, when I look at the leadership, when I look at those who have a decision-making role.
Source: 2006 Maryland Senate debate on Meet the Press Oct 29, 2006

Affirmative action programs still necessary to close divides
Q: Are federal affirmative action programs necessary and effective?

A: Studies show enormous disparities still exist in education, healthcare, employment and economic opportunities along racial lines in the United States. I believe programs are still necessary to help close these divides. I support giving people opportunities. Programs must be fair to all Marylanders - of every color - and they should focus on economic empowerment.
Source: Responses to Baltimore Sun Survey Aug 7, 2006

We’re still discovering affirmative action in corporations
Q: Do you think the time for affirmative action is past?

A: Absolutely not. We’re just beginning to rediscover what we should be doing with affirmative action. Don’t look at our universities. We got that. Let’s look at our boardrooms, let’s look at the management structure.
Source: Len Lazarick, The Examiner, “Power of the individual” Apr 28, 2006

Led commitment to $70M in grants to minority-owned business
As Lieutenant Governor, Steele chaired a 17-member task force devoted to reforming Maryland’s Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), which works to provide more opportunities for minority-owned small businesses and further spur job growth and economic vitality. Steele led the way in committing almost $70 million in grants and loan guarantees to strengthen and encourage Maryland’s small and minority-owned businesses.
Source: Press Release, “Black-Owned Business Growth” Apr 18, 2006

http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/Michael_Steele.htm

[norton]

PS: I’m really happy to see Steele in the chair, everything I’ve seen in him has been a positive for the right.

[DemonDeac]

He is an affirmative-action pick (who indecently does support those same racial preferences in hiring). Were a white man with his background and some of his past wishy-washiness picked people would be up in arms.

[SuziQ]

Compassionate Conservatism was anything but a huge success; I see no need to revisit it in the future.

There's no problem with Compassionate Conservativism, as long as it is individual conservatives who are acting on the emotion of compassion. The problem has been in trying to make those actions come from the Federal Government, which doesn't have feelings, and can only throw money at issues, not necessarily helping those who truly need assistance.

[SuziQ]

That is why I have never been comfortable fighting with this sort on my side.

"This sort"? Republicans need all the help they can get, and trying to limit the Party to those who can only pass some sort of political purity test isn't going to help at all. One of the main differences between the Republican and Democrat parties at this point in time is abortion. I'll welcome any and all who are pro-life, and want to help stop that Holocaust, even if they have views on Social Justice that some might consider 'socialist'.

[SuziQ]

Steele is all about affirmative action

From the article, it sounds more like he's interested in equality of OPPORTUNITY, not equality of outcome. That is a far cry from the typical notion of 'affirmative action'. He said he'd like to get away from the idea of civil rights being about black people being able to sit at the counter in the diner, and more about the ability of blacks to OWN the diner.

[familyop]

Michael Steele on Roe v. Wade:

“The dance we do is, we put too much pressure and weight on one decision...”
“We have to re-evaluate that.”
“...have to live with the reality of a decision that was made 33 years ago.”

[Goreknowshowtocheat]

I guess I had heard the other “pro-choice” thing somewhere else.

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

Next day BUMP!

[ConservativeStLouisGuy]

For the FR archives....

Opinion: Michael Steele, Black, Pro-Life Catholic Takes the Helm of the G.O.P.

The Republican Party has imploded. It is in need of leadership which can inspire it to become once again the Party of Lincoln and stand up for a true new birth of freedom that includes the freedom to be born.He was born at Andrews Air Force base in Prince George’s County, Maryland on October 19, 1958 and subsequently adopted. This African American child was then raised in a family of Democrats. His political turn to the Republican Party did not come from his having attained success in almost every endeavor he has undertaken, which he has. Rather, according to this well spoken and inspiring man, it came from watching the lived example of his mother, Maebell and hearing the convincing positions of a man named Ronald Reagan.

Michael Steele’s mother suffered a tragedy in 1962 when her husband, Michael’s father, died of liver disease. She went to work and through her sacrifice raised him and his sister on a minimum wage job. Her ethic of hard work and deep dedication to her children were an inspiration to her young son. They have also been replicated in him, according to those who know him best. He is considered one of the hardest working and most ethical public servants in American political life.

He attended Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington D.C. and is among the first in his family to go to College. He earned his Bachelors degree (B.A.) in international relations at Johns Hopkins and his Law Degree (J.D.) from Georgetown University Law Center. Michael Steele has a deeply rooted and sincere Catholic Christian faith. As a young man he considered a vocation to the priesthood and spent time at the Augustinian seminary at Villanova. After a period of discernment and study he chose to pursue marriage and family and what would become a distinguished career in law and public service. His Novice master for the Augustinians, Fr. Francis J. Doyle, told the Baltimore Sun “Michael was a very bright, articulate man who I would say gave himself very sincerely to the whole process of discernment." Michael Steele is happily married to Andrea Steele. They have two sons, Michael and Drew. The Steele family faithfully attends Mass at and belongs to St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Landover Hills, Maryland.

Steele has held positions of leadership in the Republican Party at the State level and became the first African American to hold the Office of Lieutenant Governor of Maryland where he assumed office in 2003. However, it was his keynote address at the 2004 Republican National Convention he gave a keynote address which put him on the radar screen of many political observers as a rising star.

Michael Steele is Pro-Life. In an unsuccessful bid for the Maryland Senate in 2006 he responded to a question concerning “stem cell research”. The manner of the question was typical. It was phrased generically to make it sound as though those of us who support adult stem cell research but oppose deadly embryonic stem cell research are therefore against scientific advance. Michael Steele spoke: “I do support stem cell research. Where I have drawn the line is federal funding for research that destroys the embryo….” He was pressed further “Why are you opposed to using embryonic stem cells? Taking of a life?” He answered with clarity again, “Yes, I see that as a life, and I don't think that we should use federal funds to do that.” Michael Steele is also a defender of true marriage and the family founded upon it. He is dedicated to expanding participation in educational and economic opportunity to all Americans. He is known to turn a phrase which can frame a debate. For example his insistence when queried as to his position on the civil rights struggle that it was time to “move the struggle to the right to own the diner, not just sit in it.”

His election to the Chairmanship of the G.O.P. on January 30, 2009 was not easy. That is evidenced by the fact that he only secured the position by a vote of 91-77 in the sixth round of voting. Three other candidates had already dropped out. Some within in the G.O.P. accuse Steele of being “too moderate”. Others suggest that he adheres to some sort of “big tent” idea of the Republican Party, using the term pejoratively. My friend Deal Hudson is a veteran of Republican Politics and has had his share of difficult experiences in the rough and tumble of Republican Politics. In a January 28, 2009 piece for his “Inside Catholic” he told a story of Michael Steele which speaks volumes to me and I share it with you:

“Michael Steele made his pro-life views very clear when he was running for the Maryland Senate seat in 2006. Maryland is not a state especially friendly to pro-life politicians, and the fact that Steele did not down-play his convictions should settle the matter…. In 2003, Russ Shaw and I convened a meeting in DC with the then-president of the USCCB, Bishop Wilton Gregory, and its executive committee. The purpose of our meeting was to discuss various concerns that had risen from their secretive meeting with a group of prominent dissenters earlier in the year. I invited Michael Steele, then Lt. Gov. of Maryland -- very few people in D.C. knew Steele then, and even fewer knew he was a Catholic.

“In addition to the bishops, there were about 60 Catholic leaders and journalists present, including Peggy Noonan, Kate O'Beirne, Gene Zurlo, Frank Hanna, Bill Donohue, Pat Madrid, and Tom Hoopes. But one of the most memorable interventions was made by Michael Steele. When he rose to his feet, very few people knew who he was. The fact that he was Lt. Gov. of Maryland got everyone's attention, but the fact that he was an African-American Republican really raised some bishops' eyebrows, as I recall.

“Steele talked about being raised as a Catholic in Northeast Washington, DC and attending Archbishop Carroll H.S. before spending three years in the Order of St. Augustine Seminary before receiving his law degree at Georgetown University. Steele then proceeded to speak very directly, but diplomatically, to the bishops about their need to promote the pro-life cause with greater vigor. He talked about his disappointment with their leadership and its consequences among the African-American community. When he finished talking there was a powerful silence in the room. Bishop Gregory, as readers may know, is also an African-American, and Steele's words had a visible impact on him. … in my opinion, Steele is a real pro-lifer and a real Catholic and would in no way exclude social conservatives from the "big tent" of the GOP.”

The Republican Party has imploded. It is in need of leadership which can inspire it to become once again the Party of Lincoln and stand up for a true new birth of freedom that includes the freedom to be born. Perhaps this articulate, dedicated Catholic Christian and loyal family man is just the recipe needed to bring some leaven to that old dying loaf. Of course, my positions on many issues have not fit the litmus test of the voices in that Party who think the “solution” is some return to a kind of knee jerk “conservatism”. After all the very word “conservative” is becoming almost a chameleon in its usage these days. Some who use the term mean fiscal and economic conservatism alone. Oh they try to throw a bone now and again to what they call “social conservatives”. In reality, I think they want to jettison people like me who had to leave the Democratic Party when its leaders turned their back on the poorest of the poor, children in the womb. I left that Party when they lost their moral integrity and right to claim that they care about the poor. I have often called myself a “Reluctant Republican”. Maybe Michael Steele can help take away some of my reluctance.

I welcome Michael Steele’s new leadership of the G.O.P. Most of all I hope he strongly challenges the growing disregard for the poorest of the poor, children in the first home of the whole human race, in that Party. I also hope that he continues to open up the tent if by that expression he means embracing and encouraging a fresh new coalition. I have longed for the day when both major Parties start from the foundation of all true social justice by recognizing in both of their platforms that the first right is the right to life and without it there are no other rights. Maybe that day will come. I still watch with great hope the growth and influence of groups like “Democrats for Life”. However, with the President rescinding the Mexico City Policy on the day after the National day of mourning for the 50 million Americans we have lost due to the horror of abortion on demand, I know that the fight for life is an uphill battle.

Let us hope and pray that Chairman Michael Steele rises to this historic moment of leading the Republican Party. But let us also never put our confidence in any one Political Party. Instead, we must become the prophetic voice of conscience, always remaining faithful to the truth.