A Funeral in Washington

We buried John McCain yesterday and most of our Nation mourned and many watched on live television the four days of services celebrating his life. We won’t know for a while whether his passing represents the end of a once noble era that has been trampled under the ever-increasing weight of tribal politics shamelessly lead on by our President or a renewal of the American spirit. The realist in me suggests the former while the romantic in me hopes for the latter.

Sometimes funerals signal major change such as those of Julius Caesar of Shakespearian fame and Edward VII’s in 1910 which heralded the end of the European Century, although few realized it at the time. In contrast Ted Kennedy’s funeral in 2009, whose memorial was also held in the Capitol Rotunda, left nary a mark on our politics. In fact in his absence the political discourse continued to worsen.

While watching McCain’s memorial service in the Capitol is was difficult not to notice the supreme hypocrisy of Paul Ryan, Mike Pence and Mitch McConnell. Their conduct stood in complete contrast to McCain’s. All three are, what I have characterized before, moral eunuchs. Similarly John McCain’s great friend Lindsey Graham has become a Trump toady. I just wonder what McCain thought of Graham’s new relationship with Trump.

Nevertheless because I still have faith in our better angels, perhaps the motley crew mentioned above might have been moved just the slightest by the example of John McCain’s life. One can only hope. A harbinger will be who Arizona governor Doug Ducey appoints to fill McCain’s shoes. Will he/she be a McTrump or will he pick someone in the style of Meghan McCain?

In the Jewish religion we are now entering the season of repentance.  There is still time for Ryan, Pence, McConnell and Graham to see the error of their ways and repent. Otherwise in their faiths they will learn that the cost of a tax cut or Supreme Court Justice will be their immortal souls.