vote as if your legacy depends on it

Legacy was surely on John McCain's mind when he delivered a speech on the Senate floor this past July urging a return to "regular order." Recently diagnosed with brain cancer and responsible for the fate of his party's health care reform bill, McCain called for his fellow senators to "trust each other" and employ a more collaborative, substantive legislative process. Two days later, he literally gave the thumbs down to the bill, effectively thwarting his party’s mission to strip millions of healthcare.

Journalists, politicians, and "I voted for Hillary, but..." grandparents everywhere agreed that this was what John McCain would be remembered for; a war hero turned prominent member of the Republican establishment, McCain cemented his legacy as a true patriot (and, as he reminded us throughout his 2008 presidential run, maverick) when he refused to join the GOP in destroying legislative norms.

But just five months after voting against Skinny Repeal, McCain threw his support behind a partisan tax bill that resembles a return to "regular order" about as much as McCain resembles Moana.

​​McCain abandoning the principles that won him so much praise exemplifies all that is wrong with politics today. It should also be his legacy.

While the tax bill’s drafting process was a far cry from "regular order", McCain's ideology lines up with the substance of the bill. There was no hope of McCain objecting to it on the grounds that it would have devastating effects for women, the working class, the sick, and the poor; he has supported plenty of policies that are equally sexist and classist.

But McCain could have stayed true to his self-purported "values" by taking issue with how this bill was crafted. When he spoke before congress in July, he declared:

"We’ve tried to do this [Skinny Repeal] by coming up with a proposal behind closed doors in consultation with the administration, then springing it on skeptical members, trying to convince them it’s better than nothing, asking us to swallow our doubts and force it past a unified opposition. I don’t think that is going to work in the end. And it probably shouldn’t."

The crafting of the tax bill was every bit as contemptuous of the democratic legislative processes as Skinny Repeal. Created behind closed doors, the bill underwent the scrutiny of ONE expert witness and was brought to the floor without taking into account any of the sixty amendments proposed by Finance Committee Democrats. There were no public hearings. Many of the handwritten notes on the bill were illegible. And the 500-page bill was released just one hour in advance of the vote, leaving Senators no time to read, much less debate the implications of, what they were voting on.

During the healthcare debate, McCain made a show of how principled he was. His actions on this tax bill revealed that these principles were sadly no more than just that--a show.

When it comes to political legacy, actions speak far louder than words. McCain has acted, and we, the public, are now left to remember, memorialize, and synthesize his actions into a legacy. We must recognize and call out our politicians for their hollow shows of principle. We must remember John McCain as a man who stood up to make a name for himself, rather than one who stood up for others.

This isn't just the case for McCain. We have the responsibility to make noise when someone relies on the short memory of constituents and fails to deliver on value promises, regardless of party. Al Franken should be remembered for sexual harassment; Bill Clinton should be remembered for the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 Welfare Reform, Monica Lewinsky, and Don't Ask Don't Tell.

Legacy is the best way to hold accountable those not running for re-election (Jeff Flake and Bob Corker, I’m looking at you), those who erred and need to make up for it (Al and Joe), and those who have something to prove. Having a high standard for entry into the book of political greatness is far from a guarantee that politicians will act honorably; there will always be the beach-dwelling, vest wearing, soon-to-be-former-governor-of-New-Jersey-like-types who throw their middle fingers in the air and resign themselves to being a political Jabba the Hutt.

For everyone else, we the people should appeal to the power of ego and hold those we elect to represent us accountable for empty words. John McCain— man who has sacrificed for our country and could be remembered as a lighthouse of Republican "normalcy" in a terrifyingly abnormal time—should have acted as if his legacy depended on it. We should let him know that we'll remember his failure when we choose someone to follow in his footsteps, when we write about him in history books, when we decide whether "the flip-flopping" or "the great" will come before his name. Let McCain's failed attempt at cementing his legacy serve as a warning for those whose “values" are purely self-serving.

And for fuck’s sake, let us escape this congressional, senatorial, presidential, political nightmare and return to regular order.

#mccain #maverick #tax #oy #bullshit