We cannot afford to lose Sen. John McCain. His remarkable mother is 105 years old. I hope he beats the brain cancer and lives that long, too.
Too bad he voted July 25 to proceed with the killing of ObamaCare, but he did at least scold fellow Republicans for the hideous bill they hobbled together in secrecy, and he did call for bipartisan health-care fixes. Many of McCain’s decisions I and many others have disagreed with, but I have never questioned his motives or his methods. As a Democrat, I have always respected McCain because he is not in it for himself. He is a dedicated public servant, as all politicians should be, but as we know all too well, so many are not, serving themselves or big-money interests rather than serving “We the People.”
McCain has long been fiercely independent, a man of principles, at times gruff-talking, a bit stubborn, willing at times to disagree vociferously with his Republican colleagues. McCain doesn’t mince words, he doesn’t waver and dissemble like most willy-nilly politicians tend to do. He says what he means; he doesn’t offer pie-in-the-sky promises; he works hard at the no-fun nitty-gritty of legislative drafting and policy work; he says what he’s going to do (or how he’s going to vote) and then he does it.
McCain has fought against pork-barrel spending; he succeeded in pushing through a major campaign-finance reform bill; he co-sponsored the Climate Stewardship Act to reduce greenhouse gases (a bill that didn’t pass, unfortunately); he helped draft comprehensive immigration reform (it didn’t pass the entire Congress because of obstructionist Tea Party nay-sayers); he convinced others to approve an anti-torture amendment.
McCain is not afraid of the Big Money men, those arm-twisting corporate barons. He pushes back, refusing to be bought and sold. In his bluntly outspoken manner, McCain excoriated the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which opened the floodgates to unlimited and unaccountable corporate campaign funding. He predicted it would become known as the “worst (Supreme Court) decision in the 21st Century.” I happen to believe he’s right.
The senator from Arizona also supported measures that proved later, arguably, to be unwise, like the war in Iraq and other foreign interventions, but he certainly wasn’t alone in those decisions. I think many of his anti-Obama, anti-Hillary jibes were unjustified and unfair. Ah, well . . . nobody’s perfect.
McCain’s fearless independence and true grit were the result of growing up in a proud military family and also forged, no doubt, by the ordeals he barely survived in Vietnam. Torture breaks most people; it seems to have made McCain stronger. As a prisoner in a North Vietnamese prison camp (grimly dubbed the “Hanoi Hilton”), McCain suffered terribly for five-and-a-half years, including sessions of brutal torture and two years in solitary confinement. He refused an offer of early release, insisting every man captured before him must also be released or no deal.
One of McCain’s sterling qualities is his long-time willingness to work with Democrats, something that drives Tea Party crazies even crazier. And that is why we need McCain, why we should hope he beats back the bleak brain-tumor diagnosis. It’s because McCain has everything a good senator should have – courage, conviction, a willingness to work with opponents and to compromise when necessary for the good of the nation. He’s an example of what I call an SRR (sane, rational, reasonable) Republican – the opposite of Tea Party extremists like Ted Cruz, to name just one.
Other examples of SRR Republicans were or are Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr.; Mitt Romney, Robert Dole, Jack Kemp, Susan Collins, Jon Huntsman, John Kasich and Olympia Snowe.
A two-party or multi-party system is a pre-condition of American democracy. Passionate disagreements lead to a virtual tug-of-war, and – ideally – lead to civil compromises for decisions, policies, laws that are – hopefully – good for most, if not all, Americans. A one-party rule for too long could become a very dangerous condition.
Since the rise of the Tea Party in 2010, the Republicans in the U.S. Congress have courted those extremists to such an extent their party unity has been seriously jeopardized. That is glaringly evident because, despite their current congressional majorities, the Republicans cannot come to a consensus and cannot accomplish much of anything. The ideological extremists have poisoned the well.
And that is why we need sane, rational, reasonable Republicans like John McCain and sane, rational, reasonable Democrats like – to name but one – Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
