Robert Lipshutz
Sep 2, 2018 · 2 min read

The passing of John McCain and the celebration of his life and the way he lived it do seem to honor aspects of our nation’s character which seem to have atrophied since the Greatest Generation passed the baton to us. But John McCain never gave in to despair-even though there were many times in his life when we might have believed he was justified in doing so.

. America was forged in a victory over the earth’s most powerful nation, Great Britain. America held fast against secession, losing (in percentage terms) more of its citizens than in any conflict before or since. Think of the world into which John McCain was born. Our nation, emerging victorious from the Great War, engaged in a schizophrenic decade of prohibition and dissolute behavior, both personal and financial. First came the Crash and the Great Depression. Next, the world saw the rise of Hitler and the strengthening of Stalin and Mussolini. Fascism was on the march, war was approaching, and there was a real question as to whether democracy and the free market could survive. But America produced not only the leaders it needed but also the citizens who followed those leaders to victory in war and peace. We won two World Wars and a Cold War.

. Before each of those victories, there were pessimists. JFK gave his Berlin speech in July, 1961. You and I can remember that speech when he said any place could be defendèd “…so in fact was Stalingrad…” We have faced worse foes from a position of greater weakness and still prevailed. The blood may have run a little thin in some Americans, but we are still capable of greatness.

    Robert Lipshutz

    Written by

    Lawyer. American citizen. Hoping to help America find a way out and a way forward-together.