John McCain: An American Hero Passes Away

It’s not every day you see a war hero turned politician, who consistently reached across the aisle, went against the status quo, and shamelessly defended his beliefs. Earlier this month, John McCain, who served as the Senator of Arizona, passed away after fighting valiantly against glioblastoma (GBM), a rare and deadly form of brain cancer. McCain, who was once a prisoner of war in Vietnam for 5 years, was diagnosed with GBM in July of 2017; the majority of those diagnosed with GBM do not survive more than two years.

As reported by Time Magazine, McCain was “rebellious” when he served in the military. This eventually translated into his style of politics. His style was especially unique, as he was a Republican who agreed with some generally left-leaning values. Although he voted 87% of the time in agreement with Republican policies; he is still seen by much of the Republican Party as a RINO (Republican In Name Only), for having sided at all with the opposing party.

  On the day of McCain’s death, August 25th, President Trump — who in 2015 called McCain a “loser” and “not a real war hero” — did not lower the flags half-staff in federal buildings in honor of McCain’s death until 2 days later. McCain’s unorthodox political stance shows in his voting record, such as attempting to construct immigration reform and voting against the repeal of Obamacare; which are generally left-leaning policies.

However, he has made some more conservative votes in recent years. For example, he voted against a bill that would make it illegal to allow male employees to be paid more than their female counterparts for doing the same job. McCain is also known for having run against Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign. He appointed Sarah Palin (who at the time was the Governor of Alaska) as his vice president during the campaign, which he later admitted is one of his regrets.

During his time as Senator, he would go to annual security conventions in Munich and would occasionally bring journalists along. The reporters who have attended stated McCain “wanted other members of Congress to care about the world.”

  McCain asked the former president and competitor during the 2008 election, Barack Obama, to speak at his funeral. He reportedly made it explicitly clear that he did not want current president Donald Trump to attend, and understandably so considering their feud. It’s clear to see that McCain had the people’s best interest at heart, despite what some might suggest.

This is even more evident in the farewell message released by his staff.  “Do not despair of our present difficulties, but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here,” said McCain in his farewell message. “Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.” John McCain is immortalized by his service in the military, and contribution to American politics.