Opening Insights: No Fear to Speak, At Deaths Door
The reality of mortality leaves us in a place of deep reflection and candor. To avoid regrets, no holds are barred and no truth is too dangerous to speak, no matter the sensitive or dangerous ears listening.
At 81 years old, Senator John McCain shared that his current political term will be his last. While battling and coping with stage 4 cancer, he says in his new book "I will hate to leave," but the reality of mortality makes him more free to speak the truth about his view of the current political climate.
As a man who has contributed much to the State of Arizona, the Republican party and the country as a whole; what will the future hold without his fight?
Informational Insights: "Last Term"
According to an excerpt published by Apple News on Monday, of McCain's new book, The Restless Wave, he declared to the world, "this is my last term."
'If I hadn't admitted that to myself before this summer, a stage 4 cancer diagnosis acts as ungentle persuasion.' "This is my last term. If I hadn't admitted that to myself before this summer, a stage 4 cancer diagnosis acts as ungentle persuasion....I'm freer than colleagues who will face the voters again. I can speak my mind without fearing the consequences much. And I can vote my conscience without worry."
Referring to President Donald Trump, McCain wrote, "He has declined to distinguish the actions of our government from the crimes of despotic ones. The appearance of toughness, or a reality show facsimile of toughness, seems to matter more than any of our values."
McCain said he wants to see the nation's politics "return to the purposes and practices that distinguish our history" and says, "you're damn right, I'm a champion of compromise." "I would like to see us recover our sense that we are more alike than different," he wrote."We are citizens of a republic made of shared ideals forged in a new world to replace the tribal enmities that tormented the old one. Even in times of political turmoil such as these, we share that awesome heritage and the responsibility to embrace it."
McCain, 81, made public last summer his brain cancer diagnosis. He's been recovering from side effects of the cancer treatment at his home in Arizona since late last year.
"'The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it,' spoke my hero, Robert Jordan, in For Whom the Bell Tolls," McCain wrote in his book. "And I do, too. I hate to leave it. But I don't have a complaint. Not one. It's been quite a ride. I've known great passions, seen amazing wonders, fought in a war, and helped make a peace. I made a small place for myself in the story of America and the history of my times."
Source: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/john-mccain-book-excerpt-this-is-my-last-term/ar-AAwyRq5?ocid=spartandhp&ffid=gz
Possibilities for Consideration: Disrupt-Deceive-Divide-Conquer
The political climate of divide today has disrupted the unity, liberty and intent of the founding fathers:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln - Gettysburg Address
When a man does not feel free to speak his mind until he is on his deathbed, something is wrong.
The world today is hungry for leaders - leaders of vision, passion, purpose, skill and wisdom.
- What happens to a state when its backbone is removed?
- What happens to a party when its leader steps down - who will fill the gap and lead?
- What happens when the balance of power shifts, increasing the divide within the Republican party and the Nation?
- What happens to the future of the Republican party and State when McCain's senate seat opens up?
- What happens to the legacy of freedom and liberty when its messenger passes? Who are the followers behind him, and how do they pick up the ball?
Add Your Insight: Divided We Fall, United We Stand
We need to recover some perspective about how much someone's politics is a testament to their character. When did politics become the principal or only attribute we use to judge people? Republicans and Democrats can be good neighbors, loving parents, loyal Americans, decent human beings. I don't remember another time in my life when so many Americans considered someone's partisan affiliation a test of whether that person was entitled to their respect.
JOHN McCAIN
