John McCain
Senator John McCain is dead. The outpouring of warm sentiments for this man coming from across the political spectrum has been of the gushing variety – at least in terms of the very narrow band of political thought represented by electoral politics in the US and some other countries. The focus is on his years of captivity in Vietnam, his support for campaign finance reform, his many visits to US troops overseas, and the very occasional moments where he disagreed in a serious way with his party's leadership, which, in his own mind at least, earned him his beloved title of “maverick.”
Far less attention is paid to the fact that prior to his years of captivity, he had been dropping bombs on innocent civilians from tens of thousands of feet in the air. Before he became an advocate for campaign finance reform he was caught up in a corruption scandal that would at the very least have ruined the careers of less well-connected politicians. When he visited US troops overseas, the reason they were there in the first place, killing people and being killed themselves, was because of Senator McCain's enthusiastic support for every US imperialist venture that was launched by a US president – of either party. So as a war-monger he was very bipartisan, as is most of the Congress throughout the vast majority of US history, very much including recent history.
The idea that this man should be celebrated for his refusal to join the rest of his party in completely killing off the Affordable Care Act only makes sense in some kind of Disnified version of reality. Because the widespread poverty and lack of affordable healthcare that still defines much of the United States in 2018 is a very direct consequence of the economic policies and military spending that John McCain voted for unwaveringly, which have brought out country to the teetering edge it's on today.
I have written a musical appreciation of the Senator which I'll share with you now.
Ballad of John McCain
John McCain, John McCain
Your grandfather was an admiral
And your father was one too
When you turned 17 You knew what to do
You signed up for the Navy So you could make it rain
Kill innocent civilians Dropping bombs from planes John McCain, John McCain, John McCain
John McCain, John McCain
On your military service You then made a run
You got into the Congress In 1981
In the halls of the Senate You had only just arrived
When you were caught up in corruption One of the Keating 5
What should have been a loss You turned into a gain
Not quite sure how you did it The innocence you feigned John McCain, John McCain, John McCain
John McCain, John McCain
You were the hero in the Senate Who had survived the war
The one who would explain to them What we were fighting for
For each act of aggression You would cheer along
You'd go visit the troops And sing your military songs
You'd thank them for their service And then you'd watch them die
As they fought for corporations Launching missiles from the sky
To the streets below Which would be covered with the stains
The blood of the innocent Running down the drains John McCain, John McCain, John McCain
John McCain, John McCain
You voted for austerity And every free trade deal
You never met an oil well You didn't think that you should steal
About the poverty around you You never did a thing
Except more military spending And less of everything
That matters to the people Who want a peaceful place to be
Without some war-crazed Senator Calling them his enemy
You called yourself a maverick Whatever the heck that meantYou had lofty aspirations To be the US president
Now your dead, it's over Your terroristic reign
The liberals, they loved you I loved the cancer in your brain John McCain, John McCain, John McCain