Just asking: Was McCain overtly a man of Christian faith? I don't recall ever hearing that about him. That would obviously be a factor in evaluating the "Christian" nature of the service he planned. The "national cathedral's" self-image allows for plenty of events that are more affairs of state than Christian worship.
I read a few articles over the past year or so (since diagnosis) of John McCain's speaking about his faith and then saw the following article yesterday. https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/30/politics/mccain-faith-service/index.html
Thanks for this link, Eileen - very helpful,
Dave Benke
Add my thanks.
Marie Meyer
When it comes to John McCain all I have to go on are his words and actions. Those very things have never indicated to me a man who greatly valued Jesus of Nazareth; his way, his work.
If anything he was a faithful disciple of American civil religion, so much so that he almost gave up his life for it. This is honorable in its own right, without a doubt.
But these hagiographies that keep spilling out from the media are greatly misleading and cover over a rather typical career in Washington full of saying one thing and doing another. His persona as a maverick was indicative of this. He voted with Trump 83% of the time and voted for all of his nominees. He was always ready and willing to bomb the crap out of any place for the sake of democracy and human rights all the while supporting regimes that were against democracy and huge human rights’ violators. Saudia Arabia being but one example.
If you want to know why Trump is the president look no further than a politician like John McCain and all the fanfare from the media that claims he was so great and honorable. He is a great representation of the establishment that so many were and are tired of.
Former President Jimmy Carter once said that John McCain was a warmonger. I believe he was accurate in this. The things he said and did, the way he voted, indicate this much. His death does not somehow change that, no matter how much some might claim otherwise.
In Christ,
Scott+
McCain did indeed represent the kind of politics that uses the idea of being above the fray as a weapon in the fray. I think his kind of politics pushed the electorate toward the Tea Party and now the Democratic Socialists, i.e. the extremes. The extremes are far more honest and meaningful, if far less polished and civil.
Oddly enough, McCain is the only politician I ever volunteered my time for. I never had much use for him politically, but thought the pro-life cause would be set back a lot by an Obama presidency. McCain was pro-life when it suited his goals, but really the only thing that made me think there would be any difference was the presence of Palin on the ticket. But I see she also was dis-invited from the funeral. McCain later said he wished he would have a chosen Joe Lieberman to be his running mate. Now try this for an intellectual exercise-- write a campaign commercial showing why it would be in the least bit important that a McCain/Lieberman ticket defeat an Obama/Biden ticket in 2008. How would the country be better off, heck, what would even be discernibly different today? Nothing relevant I can think of. Certainly I wouldn't have wasted three October Saturdays working for either ticket. And that is the point-- why would anyone? If asked why they bothered to support the GOP, the typical Republican in 2008 could only ever muster some vague, rhetorical equivalent of, "Because the R-belly sneeches have R's upon thars."
Another interesting mental exercise is to consider how very little political contorting Hillary Clinton would have had to have done to be on the ticket with either McCain or Obama. Running against Obama in the '08 primaries she sounded almost exactly like a McCain/Lieberman ticket would sound. And running against Trump in '16 she sounded like she'd been on an Obama/Clinton ticket all along. Or think of it this way; if McCain ran with Lieberman and Obama ran with Biden, and then they decided to switch running mates, would anyone notice that suddenly it was McCain/Biden and Obama/Lieberman? Could Lieberman and Biden make their own ticket and run against Obama/McCain?
So be it. I'm not saying centrists and career politicians can't do a competent job of managing the government. But in order to get elected without being open and up front about the fact that their own career is their platform (which would be a political liability indeed) they have to campaign as though it matters somehow that they and not the other guy win the election. But when it repeatedly turns out afterward that it likely didn't make one whit of difference that they and not the other guy won, the people who are actually passionate about the issues that always get campaigned on but never get governed on decide enough is enough. That has or is happening to both parties.
I doubt I'll ever volunteer for a campaign again, at least not a national campaign. In fact, the How to Think Like an Economist course from the Teaching Company makes the point that even bothering to vote is an irrational choice considered economically. That is, the amount of time and energy it takes even to fill out a ballot almost certainly exceeds the expected value of that vote. I'll still vote because I think I have a duty to do so, but I won't donate or volunteer; I have no such obligation. The thing is, you aren't working, and donating, and voting for a candidate; you're working, donating, and voting for the difference between that candidate and the other candidates on the ballot. That is where all the passion rightfully belongs.
I know a guy who considered running for congress this year. He is a centrist/moderate who was alarmed by the rise of Trump and thought it was time to do something concrete about it rather than join the chorus of griping about it. But an exploratory committee concluded he needed either more money or more name recognition/connections (for fund-raising appeal) to have a legitimate shot of winning. I don't think the issue is just money. A lot of the upsets on both Right and Left have been by people who were vastly outspent. The problem is that if you're going to run as a competent, moderate centrist, you'd better be running against a group of absolute lunatics if you want anyone in your district to think it would matter whether you or the other guy got elected. If your campaign is based on, "I'd be a good congressman, slightly better than my friend from across the aisle," well, people might vote for you, but in Chesterton's words, people aren't going to "go clad in gold and crimson for that." They aren't going to put themselves out there, go the extra mile, and really sweat to make sure the imperceptibly more competent candidate wins. They will for Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. They will for the Tea Party. If they see a potential difference concerning something they have genuine passion for, they might go door to door trying to make it happen.
I have no doubt John McCain was a brave and honorable soldier and have no reason to think he wasn't a decent and honorable man. So are tons of people. It was as a politician that I knew him, and as a politician I will probably always remember him as the guy whose wishy-washiness and self-serving machinations cured me of caring so much. He's the only candidate I ever went clad in gold and crimson for, so to speak, by donating my days off to the effort to elect him, but he was embarrassed by people like me and didn't really care about the policies I was/am passionate about. In short, he was making a fool of me. Oh well. Lesson learned. I still care about politics. I won't volunteer for national campaigns; once was enough, and anyway all the stuff they had me doing-- delivering doorknob hangers, sorting mailings, making cold calls-- was stuff I find annoying when anyone does to me. But I'll still vote. Hopefully not for politicians like McCain, but at his funeral may the memory of the soldier and citizen outshine the politician.
