Thursday, May 10, 2018
Elder of Ziyon
John
‘Maverick’
McCain
carries a certain amount of clout to his name awarded by his peers and the
American populace over the years, and a distinct reputation as one of the last
true advocates of bipartisan collaboration for his numerous efforts to extend
beyond party bounds to support the greater good of the American people. Such is
the legacy by which his political service will be characterized for years to
come. He’s
never been one to acquiesce to the ideals or ulterior motives of others, be it
constituents or donors--a prevalent component of the Washington political
machine, regrettably--or fellow politicians, or the media, even if it means he
needs to ‘maverick’
on
a particular issue, and adopt an unpopular stance for all the right reasons.
For those that are current with secular American politics, you’ll
remember he shocked his party and the world with a resounding ‘thumbs
down’
to
nix the proposed healthcare bill in 2017, among other contentious decisions
possibly detrimental to his long term political career, but true to his
beliefs. He’s a good person for his evident moral compass, and is also somewhat unique compared
to many other politicians: McCain is a truly logical thinker, and supportive of
whatever position makes sense to him.
He
applies his nearly infallible logical reasoning to the complex issues
surrounding the Middle East and Israel, and while Republicans as a cohort
comprise a significant amount of Israel’s American support
base, Senator McCain doesn’t rely on his party’s
alignment with Israel to influence his understanding of what’s
going on. Instead, McCain reaches the conclusion that Israel is a free and
democratic and just state, through his logical reasoning:
McCain
always takes an ‘America first’
approach
to any and all political matters, applying his sensibility to assess
ramifications for the American people--a tactic surprisingly little-used by
American politicians. He reasons that American support for the welfare of the
State of Israel can only prove beneficial for American national security
efforts. Having a staunchly democratic ally as a proxy in the Middle East can
only have an upside for America, logics McCain. A focal point of the McCain 2008
campaign and his work as a senator since has emphasized the eradication of
Islamic extremism, and Israel is at the forefront of this effort due to its
geographic proximity to the terrorist activities of the region. In a 2008
campaign trail interview with Jeffrey Goldberg,
editor of the Atlantic, McCain described Iran as “hell-bent on the destruction of Israel, they're hell-bent on
driving us out of Iraq, they're hell-bent on supporting terrorist
organizations, and as serious as anything to American families, they're sending
explosive devices into Iraq that are killing American soldiers.”
And of course, McCain is completely correct, on all of the
above. A top-priority of the Iranian government is the swift annihilation of
Israel, a sentiment purportedly shared by much of their population. McCain recognizes that Israel is America’s best shot at eliminating Islamic fundamentalism at the
source of the problem, before it fully reaches the United States. And Israel
simultaneously upholds democratic ideals in a predominantly theocratic Middle
East, promoting American interests abroad just by implementing democracy.
Ensuring mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two nations is the logical
route to take. It doesn’t
take a genius to figure that one out, just a simple understanding of the facts,
something disturbingly lacked by many--maybe even most--Americans.
While McCain prides himself on being an individual in all
respects, he’s emblematic of a
shrinking cohort of moderates in Congress, who place political points below
righteousness. Chuck Schumer is an example from one of the
political spectrum, who remains justifiably committed to Israel, breaking from
the typical Democrat ideology on Israel. But unfortunately, other political
figures have in recent years discounted the truth on a host of issues,
including Israel, fully undoing the ethical work of senators and congressman
like McCain and Schumer.
McCain’s
outlook on politics is exactly what the political world is currently lacking,
making it all the more unfortunate that his health issues, battles with brain
cancer among other issues, have kept him from promoting
bipartisanship for the past months. As much as the world has been reluctant to
say it over the past few days and as much as it pains me to acknowledge it, John
McCain is dying, and it seems the pursuit of truth may die with him, for if the
majority of politicians nowadays even remotely worked the way McCain
operates, support for Israel would be indisputable, irrefutable and certainly,
common ground across the aisle.
