Sen. John McCain’s funerals and memorial services this past week have been packed with an eclectic mix of liberals, conservatives, Democrats, Republicans, and everything in between. This should not be taken as a sign that the Arizona Republican was a go-along, get-along guy. He wasn’t.
He was often prickly, often angry, and played political hardball, with all the threats, arm-twisting, and vendettas that entails. So why did he end his life with so many friends and admirers, even in this day of extreme partisanship? Partly, of course, it is because he and the president cordially loathed each other, and that is reason enough for many critics of President Trump to cleave to the fallen senator.
But it is more than that. It is also because McCain was his own man.
We didn’t always agree with McCain, whether on his policies, politics, or philosophy. Like any politician, his motives weren’t always pure and his actions weren’t always laudable. Like any human being, the man had his vices. But McCain had the virtue of independence. It is invaluable to a liberal democracy, and it is in short supply today.
Nobody dictated what McCain would think or how he would vote or what he would say. He made up his own mind. Sometimes this landed him on what we think was the wrong side of an issue. But we cannot accuse him of ever being in the tank for someone or following bad orders. As a senator, he marched to his own drum.
Independence is particularly fitting in a senator. While the House, with party caucuses of 200 or more, operates largely on party discipline, the Senate was built to be different. Each senator has the power to introduce a bill or amendment at any moment. A single senator has the ability to block a vote. Ideally, the Senate floor leader is a party functionary more than a shot-caller. There should be about 100 “majority leaders” in the Senate.
Since 2001, majority leaders of both parties, particularly Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have worked to make the Senate more like the House. They’ve curbed debate, crowded out amendments, and enforced party loyalty. In the act, they’ve defanged the legislature, furthering the vicious expansion of executive authority.
More senators with McCain’s independence would reinvigorate the Senate and begin to restore checks and balances.
On the broader stage of political debate, independence is also desperately needed. Trump has the ability to determine the position of two-thirds of America. One-third will switch their position to agree with whatever he says, while another third, including the news media, will switch their position to oppose whatever he says.
It can be entertaining to watch Democrats and media elites curse the effects of taxes (Trump’s tariffs), point out that urban gun violence is down (after Trump’s dire statements about inner-city violence), or worry about the effects of high tax rates driving job-creators out of state (after Trump’s tax reform). But a good belly laugh is no substitute in government for debate among people who arrive at their conclusions through independent thought rather than reflex reaction.
Across college campuses, in newsrooms, and in corporations, dissenters are increasingly fearful about expressing their opinions. Social media naturally forms mobs to swarm against anyone guilty of an unpopular opinion. This is dangerous.
The press sometimes misdiagnoses the nature of our partisan strife. Commentators think the problem is that we don’t play nice enough and that people’s opinions are too divergent. This is the opposite of the truth. Divergent opinions aren’t a problem but a source of strength. And “playing nice” often means not caring about ideas or principles.
The source of our problems is that our would-be statesmen aren’t their own men or their own women. They are terrified of offending a donor, a special interest, or a party boss, and more frightened still of being caught doing something that, however principled, is unpopular. This paralysis prevents problem-solving.
McCain often wasn’t nice. But to his great credit, he didn’t play nice either. He didn’t seek the middle of the road to plant his opinions. The key was that he wasn’t beholden to anyone. For that preeminent reason he will be missed.
