The content of McCain’s patriotism

McCain in a fundraising letter writes:

I am often asked why I want to be President of the United States. And my answer is that I believe in the greatness of this nation as a beacon of goodwill throughout the world. I believe each and every one of us has a duty to serve a cause greater than our own self-interest.

There it is, as plain as day. McCain, doesn’t believe in America as a country, as his country. He believes in it as a beacon of good will to the whole world. What’s great about America is not that it is has own distinct national character, land, history, system of government, culture, language, literature, and way of life. What’s great about America is that it serves the world. That statement establishes the context for the rest of the letter. Thus when he says, “I believe each and every one of us has a duty to serve a cause greater than our own self-interest,” the clear implication is that we have a duty to serve something greater than our national interest, namely all nations. That’s America’s mission. And among today’s “conservatives,” this is called patriotism.

Having set the globalist tone, McCain continues:

I’ve spent my life in service to my country, and I’ve spent my life putting my country first.

But what he means by his “country” is ambiguous, isn’t it? He means America, but he also means this thing that is a beacon of good will to the whole world.

When I was held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam from 1967 to 1973, I was given the option to come home early because my father was an admiral in the U.S. Navy. I refused to go, because I put my country first.

Yes, I think that’s true. I think that back in the Vietnam war and when he was a POW he was serving his country, his actual country, America. But now we are in the trap where McCain’s patriotic past service and suffering for country, which has been his main claim to fame and national leadership, has been redefined as service to the whole world. Neoconservatism—the definition of our country as a project dedicated to the equality of all humanity—ultimately converts everything to itself, even military service.

I am convinced that every challenge I have confronted during my years of serving our country and its ideals, has made me better able to lead our country as president. I am humbly asking for your support today so that I may be so fortunate as to serve our country a little while longer.

As President of the United States I will always put my country first, I want to promise you that.

Once again, by the words, “I will always put my country first,” he means advancing what’s great about America, namely the project of spreading good will to the whole world. And what this spreading of good will consist of? The legalization of all illegal aliens; the tripling of legal immigration, the transfer of U.S. sovereignty to a hemisphere-wide North and South American Union. His “country” is globalism, and by “putting his country first,” he means subjecting the actual country America to that globalist agenda.

Here is the entire letter:

My Friends,

I am often asked why I want to be President of the United States. And my answer is that I believe in the greatness of this nation as a beacon of goodwill throughout the world. I believe each and every one of us has a duty to serve a cause greater than our own self-interest.

I’ve spent my life in service to my country, and I’ve spent my life putting my country first.

When I was held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam from 1967 to 1973, I was given the option to come home early because my father was an admiral in the U.S. Navy. I refused to go, because I put my country first.

I am convinced that every challenge I have confronted during my years of serving our country and its ideals, has made me better able to lead our country as president. I am humbly asking for your support today so that I may be so fortunate as to serve our country a little while longer.

As President of the United States I will always put my country first, I want to promise you that. You can count on me because it is what I have done my entire life. As your Republican candidate for president, I have an enormous sense of responsibility and duty. That’s why I am not in the habit of making promises to my country that I do not intend to keep.

But I cannot win this election alone—I need your help right now. Please follow this link to show your support and make a generous contribution of $2,300, $1,000, $500, $250, $100 or even $25 right away.

If I am so fortunate to be elected to our nation’s highest office, I give you my word that I will always put the needs of country above my own. I will always put my country first because I don’t seek the office out of a sense of entitlement. I owe America more than she has ever owed me.

Sincerely,
John McCain

- end of initial entry -

Sage McLaughlin writes:

Doth McCain protest too much? Ought it not be a given that a candidate for President of the United States will consider his duty to put America’s interests first? McCain seems in recent weeks to have been terribly sensitive on this point, and I think it’s interesting that his campaign obviously believes that about a quarter of all his rhetoric needs to be aimed at assuring us that he will put American interests first. As opposed to whose, one is moved to ask.

Shouldn’t he spend more time actually detailing what he thinks American interests actually are? But instead, he hides that particular part of his message in cryptic politico-speak. The reason, as you have pointed out, is that he thinks “American interests” are wound up in the establishment of tightly-woven elite administration of the entire planet.

Every time I read one his speeches or campaign letters, this is what I hear:

“I assure you, I will work for American interests, not that there was ever any question about that, what with the POW thing. But seriously, as if the POW thing wasn’t enough, I’m here to tell you, yessir, I’m all for putting America first. I mean, I’ll even build the damned fence if you insist on it, even though I think it’s stupid and even though my first priority is amnesty. See, I’ll put amnesty first on my agenda. But boy oh boy, am I ever for putting America first too. You know, like when I was a POW. Forty years ago. America. First. POW. Amnesty. First. Got me?”

LA replies:

Standing applause for Mr. M.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 07, 2008 05:40 PM | Send