McCain: Your Cynicism Is Impeding Our Progress, Bro
Matt Welch | April 2, 2008, 10:00am
Sometimes it gets tiring -- for me as well as you! -- to keep pointing out that John McCain has an essentially militaristic conception of citizenship, a palpable disdain for the private pursuit of happiness (and profit), and a hostility to public cynicism that requires an urgent and heavy-handed government interventionism.
So instead of me harping further, let's take it straight from horse's mouth, in a speech from this morning:
But even as we stand today, at the threshold of an age in which the genius of America will, I am confident, again be proven [...] many Americans are indifferent to or cynical about the virtues that our country claims. In part, it is attributable to the dislocations economic change causes; to the experience of Americans who have, through no fault of their own, been left behind as others profit as they never have before. In part, it is in reaction to government's mistakes and incompetence, and to the selfishness of some public figures who seek to shine the luster of their public reputations at the expense of the public good. But for others, cynicism about our country, government, social and religious institutions seems not a reaction to occasions when they have been let down by these institutions, but because the ease which wealth and opportunity have given their lives led them to the mistaken conclusion that America, and the liberties its system of government is intended to protect, just aren't important to the quality of their lives. [...]
[W]hen healthy skepticism sours into corrosive cynicism our expectations of our government become reduced to the delivery of services. And to some people the expectations of liberty are reduced to the right to choose among competing brands of designer coffee. [...]
If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you are disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. I hope more Americans would consider enlisting in our Armed Forces. I hope more would consider running for public office or working in federal, state and local governments. [...]
The good citizen and wise person pursues happiness that is greater than comfort, more sublime than pleasure. The cynical and indifferent know not what they miss. For their mistake is an impediment not only to our progress as a civilization but to their happiness as individuals.
As blessed as we are, no nation complacent in its greatness can long sustain it. We, too, must prove, as those who came before us proved, that a people free to act in their own interests, will perceive those interests in an enlightened way, will live as one nation, in a kinship of ideals, and make of our power and wealth a civilization for the ages, a civilization in which all people share in the promise and responsibilities of freedom.
Should we claim our rights and leave to others the duty to the ideals that protect them, whatever we gain for ourselves will be of little lasting value. It will build no monuments to virtue, claim no honored place in the memory of posterity, offer no worthy summons to the world. Success, wealth and celebrity gained and kept for private interest is a small thing. It makes us comfortable, eases the material hardships our children will bear, purchases a fleeting regard for our lives, yet not the self-respect that, in the end, matters most. But sacrifice for a cause greater than yourself, and you invest your life with the eminence of that cause, your self-respect assured.
SugarFree | April 2, 2008, 11:06am | #
McCain is another Patton
His whole presidency would almost be worth it to imagine McCain having this sort of exchange in the White House, turning red and spittle everywhere:
How could you compare Republicans and Democrats to the Nazi Party? And the statement that you refuse to denazify has the Russians, the British, everybody, screaming.
Well, the hell with the Mongoloid Russians. We've given them Berlin, Prague, God knows what else. They gonna dictate policy too?
George, don't be a fool. The war in Europe is over. Washington dictates policy.
The war shouldn't be over. We should stop pussyfooting about the Russians! We'll have to fight them anyway. Why not do it now, when the army's here? lnstead of disarming Germans let's get them to help fight the Bolsheviks.
You better shut up. This line may be tapped.
I don't care. I'll tell you. . .we've been fighting the wrong people. You and I don't have to get involved, you're so soft about it. Leave it to me. In days I'll have us at war with them. and make it look like their fault!
George, you're mad. You're absolutely out of your mind!
Well, I'm no diplomat. I'm a combat soldier. That's all they understand. Get Ike to give me the word, and I'll kick them back to Russia!
Shall I call the artist back, sir?
Oh, the hell with it. Nobody wants to see a picture of me. I'm mad!
John | April 2, 2008, 11:30am | #
"MT. VERNON, Iowa - Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday advocated a major expansion of the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps and other national service programs, saying "This will be a cause of my presidency."
The Illinois senator said that the government is not keeping pace with those who want to serve. "We will create new opportunities for all of us to serve," he said at a rally at Cornell College."
Despite growing anti-Americanism around the world, "the American people are not the problem, they are the answer," Obama said.
Obama said he would also expand the all-volunteer military, but "we will never send them to fight in a misguided war."
"The burden of service has fallen more and more on the brave men and women of our military," he said, citing "tour upon tour of duty in a war with no end."
"We will enlist veterans to help other veterans to find jobs, and to pitch in at VA hospitals and nursing homes," Obama said.
Other Democratic candidates have also proposed expanding national service. Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, a former Peace Corps volunteer, has proposed making community service mandatory for all high school students, doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011 and expanding the AmeriCorps national service program to 1 million participants. He also proposed encouraging service by adults by offering tax credits to employers who give workers paid time off to volunteer and $1,000 grants for seniors who help out in schools. The money could be used for their own continuing education or that of a child or grandchild."
This is one of those rare windows that don’t come around very often, maybe once in a generation,” Mr. Obama said. “As you get older, you get more set in your ways, you come to just assume that the world as it is, is the world as it must be. At your age, you’re still in the position to imagine what it might be. You are in the position to be the lever by which we move in a different direction.”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/obama-issues-call-for-public-service/
Does Obama have a "militaristic view of patriotism" Matt? Grow up Matt really. Just grow up and get over it already.
